As part of bilateral agreements signed by Mikhail Mishustin, Russia’s prime minister, during a visit to Beijing, the two countries have decided to increase investment in trade services, support agricultural exports, and foster sports collaboration.
Since commencement of war in Ukraine, Mishustin has been the highest-ranking Russian official to travel to Beijing. Xi Jinping, the president of China, visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in March to express his support for his “dear friend.”
After the G7 leaders urged Russia and China to be more open about their nuclear arsenals, Mishustin visited China, where he met Xi and Li Qiang, the country’s premier. The G7 declaration, according to Russia’s deputy foreign minister, is intended to “exert psychological and military-political pressure on Russia and China.”
The declarations from the G7 “underlined the deepening geopolitical divide between China and Russia on the one side and US and its allies on other,” according to Ben Bland, director of Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific program.
Since the invasion began, trade between the two countries has dramatically increased.
Mishustin predicted on Tuesday that bilateral trade would increase from $190 billion in 2022 to $200 billion this year. According to the Russian news source Interfax, the energy shipped from Russia to China is expected to increase by 40% this year.
Trade between the two nations reached $53.8 billion in first three months of year 2023, up nearly 40% from same period in 2022.
Vladivostok, in Russia, was added to China’s list of transit ports by the country’s customs authorities this month, with effect starting on June 1. Since the land was given up by the Qing dynasty 163 years ago, the Chinese have never had access to Vladivostok.
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine War, China and Russia’s “no limits” friendship has grown more robust, with Russia relying on China for political and economic help.
Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, criticized Nato’s intentions to establish a liaison office in Japan on Wednesday. In opposition to a US-led international order, Xi views Putin as an ally and has indicated that the bloc’s expansion at least partially sparked the war in Ukraine.
According to Bland, “We are past the point where Japan or the US is going to do things because of China’s critical commentary,” and he added that other emerging nations in the region are unlikely to support the establishment of a Nato liaison office in Japan due to their recollections of the Cold War.
On Friday, Li Hui, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, is set to travel to Russia. He travelled to Ukraine last week to support Beijing’s efforts at mediation, which the West considers fruitless given China’s close ties to Russia.
