MOSCOW Russian and Chinese state officials cemented their "epoch-making" new friendship treaty in Moscow on Tuesday by signing a deal for the construction of a major pipeline from Siberia to China to supply 30 million tons of oil a year by 2010.

"The results of the visit of the Chinese chairman have given a powerful impulse to the development of every sphere of our strategic cooperation," Russian Premier Mikhail Kasyanov said at a meeting with the Chinese state and party leader Jiang Zemin.

They witnessed the signing of an agreement under which a pipeline will be laid 1,700 kilometer from the Russian town of Angarsk across the border to China.

It is projected to carry 20 million tons of Russian oil annually from 2005, rising to 30 million tons by 2010. The value of the project was not stated, DPA reported.

The two sides hailed the new treaty on friendship and cooperation signed by Jiang and President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin as an "epoch-making" step in Sino-Russian relations.

"However the international situation may evolve, we are eternally friends and never enemies," Jiang said.

Opposition to U.S. attempts to escape from the 1972 anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty and to deploy a national missile defense shield has helped unite the two countries.

While the treaty falls short of creating a military alliance, it envisages much deeper trading and military-technical ties. Russia currently accounts for only 2 percent of China's trade.

Asked by Stroyev how China managed so efficiently to feed and clothe over a billion people, Jiang answered that his country had embarked on the path of "market economy and creation of an open society which in conditions of political stability allowed this leap forward".

Jiang said he found Putin to be a "young, energetic and already experienced" leader. "We have become good friends," he said.