The 42-year-old struck a less hawkish tone than his predecessor Vladimir Putin in his most specific foreign policy statements since his May 7 inauguration, in an interview with Chinese journalists timed to coincide with the tour.

He stressed Russian dissatisfaction with US plans to place missile defence facilities in eastern Europe, but also said Moscow would keep talking and steered clear of making explicit threats of the kind Putin has made.

"Our foreign policy should be reasonable, pragmatic and at the same time friendly and open. And we absolutely include China among our most important foreign policy partners," he said in the interview.

On missile defence and relations with the United States, Medvedev said: "I don't think the situation is completely hopeless but these decisions that have been taken cannot please us and we will be forced to find an adequate response.

"The worst thing would be simply to close the doors and windows and not to listen," he added.

"That's why of course we are ready to continue negotiations on all tracks... with our European partners and American partners."

In his talks in the Kazakh capital Astana with President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Medvedev stressed the importance of close relations with the ex-Soviet state, which is courted by China and the West as a burgeoning energy power.

"This visit shows the direction of our cooperation, of the special relations of trust and fraternity between Russia and Kazakhstan," Medvedev said.

Analysts say his choice of China and Kazakhstan as his first foreign destinations is a sign that Russia, the world's biggest energy power, is increasingly turning its attention to Asia.

This appears a significant change for a country that has long measured itself against the West.

Moscow and Beijing have pursued increasingly close ties, aligning their positions in international diplomacy and cooperating on defence within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a security group that includes four Central Asian states.

Analyst Yevgeny Volk, of the US Heritage Foundation's Moscow office, said that "these destinations reflect the new priorities of Russia's foreign policy, while relations with the United States and the European Union are cooling."

However analysts say there is also unspoken rivalry.

China and Russia are competing for Central Asia's oil and gas, which was exclusively Moscow's preserve in Soviet times.

There is also rivalry in the defence sphere, with some Russian officials reportedly worried about China gaining too much access to Russian military secrets through increased defence sales to China.

Medvedev's talks in Kazakhstan were to include the planned expansion of a pipeline that brings gas from Central Asia to southern Russia, supplementing Russia's own reserves, the Kremlin said.

Differences had also to be resolved over expansion of an oil pipeline that runs from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea via Russia, a project Moscow hopes will feed oil to the Mediterranean via another pipeline through Bulgaria, the Russian daily Vedomosti said.

Medvedev was to fly to Beijing on Friday, spending two days there.

Analysts doubted concrete deals would be hammered out there.

But in the comments published by the Kremlin, Medvedev said he was sure Russia and China would reach agreement on plans to extend a Russian far eastern oil pipeline to Chinese territory.

"We currently have a basic agreement on this and today are at the concluding stage in talks between Rosneft and CNPC," he said, referring respectively to the Russian and Chinese sides.

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