The US sanctions and tariffs spree is drawing Russia and China closer together, providing new opportunities for the development of bilateral trade in the agricultural and energy fields, Chinese scholars say, stressing that the countries’ economies complement each other.
The Sino-American trade war has opened the way to the further development of economic cooperation between China and Russia, Chinese scholars say.
To illustrate his point, the scholar pointed out that previously China had imported agricultural goods mostly from the US and Canada. “Now we are diversifying suppliers, importing farm products from other countries”, he said, stressing that it provides a great opportunity for Russia.
In addition to the Power of Siberia project signed by Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in May 2014, aimed at delivering 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to China, Russia has started supplying the People’s Republic with LNG. Currently, Russia runs two LNG plants: one is Novatek’s Yamal LNG on the Arctic Yamal Peninsula, and the other is Gazprom’s Sakhalin-2 in the Far East.
Li noted that the Russian and Chinese economies complement each other, while Moscow and Beijing’s interests largely overlap.”I think that together we can completely offset the impact of US sanctions on Russia and the trade war between China and the United States. We just need to unlock the full potential of bilateral trade and cooperation [between Russia and China]. This will benefit both Russia and China, and the rest of the world”, the Chinese scholar underscored.
By the number of personal meetings, Russian President Vladimir Putin has become the leader among Chinese President Xi Jinping’s other counterparts.