China-Russia ties strengthened
Photo: crisisboom
On 15th June, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Moscow for a four-day state visit aimed at deepening pragmatic cooperation between China and Russia. President Dmitry Medvedev received President Hu and his wife Liu Yongqing in the Kremlin's glittering St George hall. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the China-Russia Treaty on Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation. In the past decade, the development of China-Russia ties has made remarkable progress. Political and strategic mutual trust between the two nations has deepened continuously. Two months ago, the Chinese and Russian presidents met on the sidelines of a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in the southern Chinese beach resort of Sanya, and the two leaders agreed to further improve cooperation and safeguard common interests. In 2010, Hu and Medvedev held six bilateral meetings, and reached important agreements to strengthen China-Russia strategic partnership of cooperation. President Hu flew to Moscow from Astana after a visit to Kazakhstan and attending to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. Emphasising warm relations between the Kremlin and Beijing, Medvedev said, "I am glad to welcome you to Moscow ... you and I meet relatively frequently, but we will always have time to discuss important issues." During this visit, Hu met with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The two sides exchanged views on planning for the development of China-Russia relations in the next decade and on major regional and international issues. He said during the visit, China was ready to work with Russia to make new and greater contributions to the sustainable growth and comprehensive rejuvenation of the two countries, as well as to the benefits of their peoples and to world peace and development.` "Our continuous exchange of opinions on a whole range of pressing questions is one of the main reasons for the dynamic and successful development of Russia-China relations," Hu said, in comments aired by Russian national television. Among the topics the two leaders discussed were the conflicts in Libya and Syria, the security situation in North Korea, nuclear energy, border demarcation, aerospace cooperation and development, and military equipment sales, the Interfax news agency reported. Trade issues on the agenda included setting up jointly operated border crossing points and improving transportation infrastructure between the two countries. The two countries have established mechanisms for high-level exchange of visits and all-round cooperation. They have become each other's major trading partner, and have coordinated closely in dealing with major world and regional affairs. Last year, their two-way trade volume reached 55.4 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 43 percent over the previous year. In the first four months of this year, bilateral trade stood at 22.3 billion dollars. The China-Russia oil pipeline started operation at the beginning of this year, and the fifth round of their strategic security consultations last January was a great success. A supply deal is important for energy-hungry China, which saw its gas demand increase 22 percent in 2010, and for Russia, which is looking to diversify its exports away from Europe and to exploit Asian markets. But experts said neither side yet had a sufficiently strong reason to make the required compromise on price. Disagreements on the price of deliveries determined by any contract proved too entrenched to resolve. In a deal of this size, even a tiny alteration in price means a loss or gain of billions of dollars. The price difference between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Company is reported to be about $100 per 1,000 cubic meters, with the two sides looking at a compromise of $250 to $350 per 1,000 cubic meters. Gazprom sold pipeline gas to Europe in the first half of 2011 for an average of $346 per 1,000 cubic meters and may raise the price for long-term contracts to $500 per 1,000 cubic meters by December on the back of high oil prices. During a session with leading international financiers, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said oil and gas output accounts for 17 percent of the country's GDP, while producers contribute 35 percent to 40 percent of the government's revenue. The government needs the price of crude oil to average $115 a barrel to balance its budget, he said. Under the terms of an agreement signed in 2006, Gazprom is due to begin supplies of about 70 billion cubic meters of gas a year to CNPC in 2015. China consumed 107 billion cubic meters of gas in 2010. China is seeking a discount on the price at which Gazprom sells gas to its European customers. Gazprom has stressed that a final decision would not depend on politics but economics. "It's the wrong assumption that companies can establish a price by themselves -- market forces decide," he said. China is developing other sources for the supply of gas to its domestic market. Regasification terminals for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, are being installed along its eastern coast, with an annual import capacity target of 64 billion cubic meters by 2015. The country's potential reserves of shale gas are thought to be substantial. Since the end of the Cold War, the improved political and economic relationship between Beijing and Moscow has affected a range of international security issues. China and Russia have expanded their bilateral economic and security cooperation. In addition, they have pursued distinct, yet parallel, policies regarding many global and regional issues. Although both countries have experienced a geopolitical resurgence during the past two decades, Chinese and Russian security concerns are not directed at each other but rather focus on different areas and issues, with the notable exceptions of maintaining stability in Central Asia and constraining North Korea's nuclear activities. As the international situation is undergoing profound and complicated changes, the great cause of peace and development of the mankind now faces a number of challenges. Given that scenario, growth of China-Russia relations has pushed forward the process of multi-polarisation of the world and is likely to play an important role in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.
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