Chinese President Xi Jinping is deepening economic ties with Russia despite the appearance of creating diplomatic distance between Beijing and Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Chinese policy advisers.
Xi recently instructed his government to deepen economic ties with Russia, which have played a crucial role for Moscow amid the Western economic pressure since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the report said on Wednesday.
The strengthening of economic ties with Russia includes increasing Chinese imports of Russian oil, gas and farming goods, as well as more joint energy partnerships in the Arctic and more investments in Russian infrastructure, the report added.
The head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, Vladimir Bulavin, said in November that the country's trade with China could grow by 27% to $160 billion in 2022.
The volume of Russia-China trade reached the $100 billion mark in 2018. On February 4, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Xi set a new target of $250 billion in trade turnover by 2024 at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, increasing the previous objective of $200 billion agreed to by both leaders.
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In recent weeks, Xi has instructed his government to forge stronger economic ties with Russia, according to policy advisers to Beijing, building on a trade relationship that has strengthened this year and become a lifeline to Moscow in the face of Western pressure.
The plan includes increasing Chinese imports of Russian oil, gas and farm goods, more joint energy partnerships in the Arctic and increased Chinese investment in Russian infrastructure, such as railways and ports, the advisers say.
Russia and China are also conducting more financial transactions in the ruble and yuan, rather than the euro or dollar, a move that helps insulate the two against future sanctions and put the Chinese currency into wider circulation.
The tightening ties are the latest twist in the bilateral relationship, which intensified just before the Russian invasion, when a joint declaration a*serted there were “no limits” to the partnership. After appearing to have second thoughts about aligning itself so closely with Moscow, China has since moved to cement their cooperation.
“Xi has been strengthening China’s relations with Russia largely independent of the Russian invasion,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank. “The relationship may well be becoming ever closer.”
In a written statement, China’s Foreign Ministry said “China and Russia are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners of each other. The development of bilateral relations is based on the principles of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of third parties.”
The Kremlin’s press service didn’t respond to a request for comment.
China’s partnership with Russia has helped to shelter Moscow from the economic fallout of the Western sanctions, enabling leader*Vladimir Putin*to sustain his war.*It is also furthering a global divide, discouraging many developing countries reliant on China for trade from taking sides in the conflict.
Russia and China have long sought to dull the U.S.’s influence in the world, a shared objective that has come into sharper focus in recent years as the two nations have grown confident they can reshape an international order that both view as biased in favor of the West and its allies.
Mr. Xi’s longstanding admiration for Russia and Mr. Putin has fortified his quest to enhance ties with China’s northern neighbor. The 69-year-old Chinese leader is expected to visit Moscow next year, likely after China’s legislative sessions in March, Russia’s ambassador to Beijing, Igor Morgulov, recently told reporters. The visit, if it occurs, will mark the two leaders’ 40th face-to-face meeting.
China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing and Moscow “will continue to carry out exchanges at all levels.”
Still, the escalating war in Ukraine has more recently forced*Beijing to walk a diplomatic tightrope.*China still needs Western technology and close ties with other foreign powers to deliver on its aspiration of overtaking the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy.
Mr. Xi, who came to power in 2012, also faces challenges at home with China in its worst economic slowdown in decades and severe Covid-control restrictions that had sparked*a wave of nationwide protests.*Meanwhile, his*entente with Mr. Putin*has left China increasingly isolated on the world stage.
In recent months, Mr. Xi has sought to temper relations with Russia publicly to avoid provoking a collective Western backlash, say foreign-affairs analysts and government advisers in Beijing.*Most notably, the Chinese leader recently told other world leaders that he opposes the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine—after.
China hasn’t directly condemned the Russian invasion. It also continues to avoid arms deliveries or other overt support for Mr. Putin’s war effort.
Mr. Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, a party revolutionary who fought alongside Mao, went to the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to study its heavy industry.
The movement profoundly shaped Mr. Xi’s youth, leading to a deep-rooted admiration for Soviet values, history and culture, according to historians.
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