MOSCOW — Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday called for a "multipolar world" and a strategic partnership with Russia to counter U.S. dominance, and oil executives signed a preliminary deal for pipeline to carry Siberian oil to China.

"The trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible and dominant," Hu said in a speech at a Moscow university specializing in international relations.

A joint call for a "multipolar world," the term Russia and China used to describe their shared ambition to offset U.S. global dominance, has cemented the post-Soviet friendship between the two former rivals.

On the sidelines of Hu's visit, China National Petroleum Corp. and Russia's Yukos oil company signed a preliminary agreement on shipping Siberian oil to China by a $2.5 billion, 1,400-mile pipeline that would link Angarsk in eastern Siberia and Daqing, China.

Along with the Chinese route, the Russian Cabinet considered a rival, Japanese-backed proposal that would first lay the pipeline to Russia's Pacific port of Nakhodka. But the Cabinet now appears to favor building the Chinese section first with the route to Nakhodka to come later. A final decision is expected in the next few weeks.

Under Wednesday's deal, Yukos would ship about 5.1 billion barrels along the new pipeline to Daqing over 25 years beginning in 2005. The deal is estimated to be worth more than $150 billion.

Hu chose Russia for his first trip abroad after replacing Jiang Zemin as president in March. He hailed a friendship treaty that Jiang signed with Putin in 2001, saying it had created "political guarantees for the long-term and steady development of Chinese-Russian relations."

The treaty became the first such document since 1950, when Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong created a Soviet-Chinese alliance that slid into rivalry and then hostility in the 1960s.

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Hu said that warmer ties have helped to clear border disputes and increase bilateral trade from about $6 billion in the mid-1990s to $12 billion last year.

Without naming the United States, Hu assailed unilateralism in world affairs and condemned the use of force in settling disputes. "Peace can't be achieved through using force," he said.

On Tuesday, Hu and Putin issued a joint declaration urging North Korea to relinquish its nuclear ambitions, but also voiced support for the North's demand for security guarantees and warned against using force to resolve the crisis.

On Thursday, Hu and Putin will take part in a Moscow summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a six-nation group that also includes four former Soviet Central Asian republics. Hu also is scheduled to attend weekend festivities marking the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Russia's former imperial capital.

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