Posted on 12/30/2019 11:57:31 PM PST by Zhang Fei
Russia has long counted on its geographic location between the Asia-Pacific region and Europe to cement its relationship with China. However, Beijing increasingly views Russia as merely a supplier of raw materials (Svobodnaya Pressa, April 27)a view reinforced anew on Monday (December 2), by the official start of flows of natural gas from eastern Russian fields to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline (Meduza.io, December 2). And perhaps even more importantly, the Chinese now also generally dismiss Russias utility as a transportation link given systemic problems with Russian infrastructure that make using Russian railways or highways extremely inefficient (Profile.ru, November 3, 2015; Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 25, 2016). The latter difficulties were highlighted late last month, when the first ever cross-border bridge between Russia and China was finally opened (Znak.com, November 29).
As a result, Chinese officials and businessmen have more and more focused on finding ways to transit Europe-bound goods around Russia, circumventing the worlds largest country along its north and, now, to the south. The former strategy has already attracted a great deal of international attention, with Chinas drive to pursue dominance on the Northern Sea Route. These Chinese activities in the High North are disturbing for Moscow given that the Kremlin had long viewed that Arctic maritime corridormore than any otheras uniquely under its own control (Regnum, December 1, 2019; see EDM, July 12, 2018, June 12, 2019, September 3, 2019).
But today, Moscow has yet another worry: China is also looking to the south. Officials in Austria, Azerbaijan and the Netherlands say that while Beijing has talked about using Russian routes to move goods (especially containerized cargo) between China and Europe, it now has demonstrated the capacity to do so via a corridor bypassing the Russian Federation to the south by using a route transiting Kazakhstan
(Excerpt) Read more at jamestown.org ...
China and Russia are natural rivals/enemies given geography and especially with Russia’s vast territory and population decline. Their alliance is just a current day political quirk thanks to the dominance of america.
The Chinese also bypass US while shipping goods to Europe.
Why is it news?
Shipping stuff by boat is cheaper than rail and trucking. That is that the Chinese do. They have sea ports and so does Europe.
[The Chinese also bypass US while shipping goods to Europe.
Why is it news?
Shipping stuff by boat is cheaper than rail and trucking. That is that the Chinese do.]
“China and Russia are natural rivals/enemies given geography and especially with Russias vast territory and population decline. Their alliance is just a current day political quirk thanks to the dominance of america.”
Their alliance is weaker than it looks and won’t last.
2.8 million tonn of goods shipped to Europe from China in 2018. That’s 17% more than previous year.
I mean transported through Russia by Russian carriers.
[China and Russia are natural rivals/enemies given geography and especially with Russias vast territory and population decline. Their alliance is just a current day political quirk thanks to the dominance of america.]
Particularly, taking into account the fact that China still considers vast territories in Siberia and Russia Far East as belonging to China.
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