Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kirill Novikov
[REGNUM] The outgoing year was a successful one for relations between Russia and China. It marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. China also became the first country visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin after his election.
The Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui drew attention to the successful development of economic relations between our countries. Trade turnover increased by 2.1% compared to last year, Chinese companies successfully localize production in the territory of the Russian Federation. At the same time, agricultural products from our country are popular in the PRC.
It is difficult to disagree with the Chinese ambassador, since the joint opposition to Western countries has indeed brought Russia and China closer together both politically and economically.
Our country's role as China's leading energy partner is growing. On December 20, Gazprom announced a new record for daily gas supplies to China. The company's management believes that demand for gas there will grow, while Europe is gradually curtailing cooperation in this area.
According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, the implementation of the project for a new gas pipeline to China via Kazakhstan, which Regnum News Agency wrote about earlier, has begun.
However, the trade partnership has its own challenges. In November, China's exports fell by 10.5%, a similar situation was observed in March, when they fell by 16% for the first time since 2022. This negative dynamics is explained by two factors: a gradual slowdown in the Chinese economy and Western sanctions.
The negative impact of the latter was pointed out by Finance Minister Anatoly Siluanov. According to him, the threat of secondary sanctions for ties to Russian companies (at the end of 2023, US President Joe Biden signed a decree on sanctions against banks for cooperation with the Russian defense industry) repels investors from abroad.
Chinese banks are wary of entering the Russian market, and in the summer about 80% of payments in yuan returned back to Russia.
However, both countries are interested in cooperation today.
Russia and China challenge the global dominance of the United States and its allies to protect their own sovereignty. Both countries are now subject to sanctions by the West, which views them as revisionists undermining its power.
China is in for a tough time as the tariff war is set to flare up again in the coming year. US President-elect Donald Trump intends to impose a 60% tariff on all goods from the country and 100 to 200% on car imports from China.
Europe will gradually introduce similar restrictions, despite the fact that electric cars from China are in demand there: in 2023, they accounted for 7.9 % of the market, although in 2019 this figure was much more modest - 0.9%. However, it was on them that the EU authorities imposed duties of up to 35.3% for a period of 5 years.
The decision will hit the European economy hard, as it had planned to completely phase out internal combustion engines by 2035. Moreover, some European car companies had called for an end to the restrictive policy towards China, but America imposed its own position on its allies.
"We need the Europeans to be with us. I think we are starting to make progress, " U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said in September.
Russia, on the contrary, is becoming the leading importer of cars from China. Our country confidently occupies first place, being the main buyer of products of the Chinese auto industry. In November of the outgoing year, 103 thousand cars were imported to us (18% of the total volume), while Mexico, which is in second place, received 35.5 thousand.
China is organically occupying those segments of the Russian market that have become free after the departure of Western companies.
Russia and China also confidently support each other in the area of metals trade.
After the introduction of sanctions, the Shanghai Futures Exchange became the only major commodity exchange where aluminum, copper and nickel from the Russian Federation are listed. According to experts, importing metals from our country at a reduced price can support the Chinese economy in conditions when Washington imposed a duty on electric vehicles and batteries from China.
There is also a unity of political aspirations.
It was shown at the BRICS summit in Kazan, where the Chinese delegation was personally headed by the Chairman of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping. Together with Vladimir Putin, they held a bilateral meeting, where, in particular, they discussed the problem of settlements between our countries.
Details of these negotiations were not disclosed, but Donald Trump reacted very sharply to the activities of the summit in Kazan, threatening to introduce 100% tariffs against BRICS if this organization creates its own currency.
The US President's excitement is easy to explain: this year, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Ethiopia joined the organization, and Saudi Arabia is considering joining. The share of global GDP accounted for by the BRICS countries, taking into account the new members, was 28.1%, and the gap with Western countries is gradually narrowing.
The world has entered an era of new confrontation. The United States is losing its global hegemony, but is not ready to give up the advantages of a unipolar world. The desire of Russia, China and other countries to pursue their own policies is causing them to reject it.
Western countries, using tariff and sanctions pressure, want to prevent the formation of a full-fledged alternative to their own economic system. And this conflict will only escalate in the coming year.
In the current conditions, it is important for Russia and China to develop partnership relations, because the prospects for the formation of a new polycentric order, which will be based on the interaction of equal sovereign states, directly depend on this.
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