Samuel Bendett writes: Russia and China recently have signed and executed a number of large-scale economic and military agreements – enough to make Russia’s own so-called pivot to Asia, and toward the dynamic Chinese economy, seem a success. Multi-billion dollar oil-and-gas agreements and recently concluded Sino-Russian naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea point to strengthening relations between these major Eurasian powers. For Russia, the growing relationship presents many challenges. Foremost among these for the Kremlin is to ensure that such a relationship is balanced, and does not make of Moscow a junior partner to Beijing just as Russia seeks to re-establish its global prominence.China’s vast geopolitical and economic potential certainly entices Moscow – but Russian leaders have to worry that China will seek to use Russia as a means to its own imperial ends.Referring to the Russian agreement to deliver natural gas via pipeline to China for the next several decades, Maslov said “it will cost nearly 1 trillion rubles to build (the pipeline) – but this is a government strategy and we are laying the foundation for an energy relationship for the next 30 years. However, we are not replacing our European deliveries – this project simply augments our existing energy point order to change the current economic reality wherein Russia delivers the natural supplies that fuel Chinese consumer technology, “it is necessary to attract Chinese investments in our country, to establish joint ventures. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, for example, has recently transferred to China a number of priority investment projects in which China could invest…such as the construction of strategically important factories, development of land, and raw materials deposits. We are already allowing Beijing to become deeply involved in our economy, and Chinese investments in these areas should be around $20 billion. But so far, Chinese investment during the years of our bilateral cooperation amounts to less than $5 billion. We need a breakthrough.”
When asked to clarify how Russia can change its current economic pattern and emerge with a stronger and more diversified development model, Maslov confirmed the existence of several regional development projects where “China will use its own technology and investments, but 80 percent of products for the construction will be manufactured in Russia.
Maslov advocates for closer Russian engagement with China’s neighbors – countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In his own words, in order to prevent Russia and Europe from “losing voice in the coming Sino-American bipolar world order, Russia needs to have closer relations with Europe. Russia needs both East and West.
