'Russia, China now standing side-by-side against Western containment policy' - expert

'Russia, China now standing side-by-side against Western containment policy' - expert

... Excerpt

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has paid a landmark visit to China to reinforce partnership with its biggest Asian neighbor and leading business partner. An impressive package of deals on energy, business and infrastructure, including much-awaited gas contract worth $400 billion has been singed. Yuri Tavrovsky, an independent expert, Timothy Misir, public policy researcher, and Alexander Lomanov, chief research fellow at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, share their views on the gas deal in an interview with Radio VR.

 

Yuri Tavrovsky, an independent expert and a prominent author:

 

I think this is a victory for Putin and this is a victory of Xi Jinping, because both sides are equally interested in gas supply, in opening up Siberia and Far East. It is actually a breakthrough.

 

Russia-Chinese relations are never pure business. I think that in this cocktail there is much more politics than business.

 

And this visit signifies a breakthrough in the bilateral relations, in Eurasian relations and in global relations, because now we have Russia and China standing side-by-side against the containment policy of the West which both of our countries feel – Russia on our western borders and China on the eastern borders. So, this is a visit of truly historic proportions.

 

Timothy Misir, public policy researcher:

 

Asian investors and Asian governments are of course a lot less critical of the Kremlin’s actions. So, I guess, at least for China, which is trying to diversify their gas suppliers, it is a victory for them and also for Russia which is also trying to diversify their gas market.

 

In terms of the global situation right now and the relations between Asia and Russia, it is broader than just business, of course. It also links to China’s need for any sort of alliance right now in northeast Asia, in the South China Sea.

 

 

I guess, in terms of the gas deal itself, it doesn’t satisfy the China’s need for gas completely, but of course it sends a strong signal, especially to the West.

 

Alexander Lomanov, chief research fellow at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

 

The eastern strategy of Russia, the new post-Soviet strategy was forming its roots back into the 1990s. So, it is not an emergency strategy. It is a strategy which was building up for at least 15 years. But now, the current dispute between Russia and the EU, and the US has accelerated, and accelerated significantly the implementation of the strategy of all-embracing cooperation with China not only in the international politics, but also in economy, especially in investment, in infrastructure and also in natural resources, as we see from this gas contract.

 

How will this new partnership change the landscape of geopolitics, especially in the region?

 

It is a little bit disappointing for those leaders in South Korea and Japan, who wanted to develop a some kind of sophisticated balance of their relations with China through the development of their ties with Russia, because right now the Russia-China cooperation is getting greater and it leaves less opportunities for the third countries from the region to impact this cooperation or to use contradictions between Russia and China to their benefit.

 

So, what is most important is that the earlier experience of close political ties between Russia and China, which goes back to the friendship and cooperation treaty which was signed more than 10 years ago, is now significantly supplemented by the economic cooperation of long-term nature. It is not like simple trade when you today buy more than yesterday, and tomorrow buy more than today. It is some kind of a 30-year arrangement for the natural gas sales which ties Russia and China on a long-term basis.