The official Party newspaper 'People’s Daily' on September 15, 2018, under its “Zhong Sheng” column, which authoritatively transmits the official positions of the People’s Daily on matters of international affairs, praised Sino-Russian regional cooperation. It observed "in 2017, China’s trade with the Russian Far East Federal District exceeded US$7.7 billion. China has participated in more than 30 Far East Development Zones and Freeport projects, with a planned investment of more than US$4 billion. China has become the largest trading partner of the Russian Far East. And the first largest source of foreign capital.” It portrayed Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech of September 12, at the 4th Eastern Economic Forum Plenary as a vivid demonstration of China’s "remarkable achievements in participating in Russian Far East cooperation" and took note of he Sino-Russian Far East Development Cooperation. It said Chinese President Xi Jinping had emphasised local cooperation at the Fourth Eastern Economic Forum. On September 11, President Xi Jinping and President Putin attended the China-Russia Regional Leaders' Dialogue when President Xi Jinping said that "the closer the local cooperation, the mutual benefit of the two countries" and offered four suggestions for local cooperation. Stating that Sino-Russian local cooperation has a long history, it said in recent years, China and Russia have established two major regional cooperation mechanisms, namely the “Yangtze River-Volga River” and “Northeast-Far East”, and concluded 140 pairs of sister cities and provinces and states. This year and next year are China-Russia local cooperation and exchange years. On February 7, the China-Russia Local Cooperation and Exchange Year was officially launched. President Xi Jinping and President Putin delivered a congratulatory speech to the opening ceremony and held the first meting in June this year in Beijing. They issued a joint statement calling for "improving local cooperation in the overall cooperation between the two countries in the areas of economy, trade, science and technology, humanities and other fields."

China has set up a Sino-Russian regional cooperative development investment fund with a first phase of 10 billion yuan and a total scale of 100 billion yuan. Qingdao will invest 30 billion rubles in the core area of Moscow to build a Russian-Chinese local cooperation park, and form a linkage with the Sino-Russian local cooperation park (Qingdao) to promote the development of Chinese enterprises to Russia. At the China-Russia Expo held this year, 203 companies from 14 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and 9 states in Russia participated in the exhibition. The Sino-Russian local leaders' dialogue was held in Vladivostok when leaders from nine provinces and regions of China and 13 federal entities in Russia discussed the Sino-Russian local cooperation. The cooperation mechanism will promote the regional development plans of the “Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei”, “Yang-Yu-Liang”, “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Grand Bay Area” and the development strategies of the Russian federal districts, so that local cooperation will extend from the adjacent areas to the hinterland.