Russian Prime Minister Mishustin visited China again at the end of this year, and this time after Mishustin came to China, he said an ancient Chinese poem that everyone is familiar with: "If you want to be poor for a thousand miles, you will go to the next level." This means that Sino-Russian relations will go further, and it is true that this time the Russian side has brought six cooperations, all of which are heavyweights.
After all, the essence of international politics is interests, because Russia has discovered China's development momentum, and this is the reason why Russia can rest assured and boldly cooperate with China.
(Russian Prime Minister Mishustin visits China)
First of all, let's talk about the cooperation brought by the Russian side this time, involving agricultural trade, military cooperation, oil exports, intelligent customs business, automobile and machinery manufacturing, and local currency settlement mechanisms. One of the six aspects is also the six doors that Russia has opened to China.
In the cooperation of agricultural products, in fact, the cooperation between China and Russia has many highlights, needless to say, the geographical location, China and Russia border each other, have a long border, and can be easily transported by land and rail.
And it is very important that the complementarity is very strong, because the climate and resources of Russia are different from China, and the food culture of the two sides is also different, so Russian products are relatively popular in the Chinese market, such as Russian soybeans and high-quality honey, chocolate and beer.
In addition, Russia's agricultural areas have good environmental quality and less pollution, and in the distant regions of Siberia and the Far East, most of the agricultural products adopt natural stocking or traditional farming methods, so that the agricultural products are natural and pure, which is also one of the advantages of Russia.
At the same time, China can also help Russian agriculture, because China has rich experience in agricultural technology and management, which can help the quality and yield of local agricultural products in Russia.
(Mechanized harvesting of agricultural products in Russia)
The second is cooperation in the military field, Sino-Russian military cooperation, in fact, is more to ensure the security of other cooperation between the two sides, such as the Arctic route, this route is the key area of Russia's development at this stage, but also a new lifeline of Sino-Russian trade, through this route not only greatly improves the efficiency of transportation, but also will not let Sino-Russian cooperation be controlled by others. Therefore, China and Russia have also continued to conduct joint patrols near the Sea of Japan, to a large extent, to ensure the safety of shipping routes.
Looking at oil exports, this time the Russian side has brought an oil and gas project called "Vostochny Oil", which is planned to establish a new oil and gas region in the Tamil Peninsula. And the region will combine the already developed oil fields of the Russian Vankol Group with the new oil fields in the north of Krasnoyarsk Krai. And through the Arctic route, it exports oil to countries such as China and Southeast Asia. And the potential of the project is huge, with up to 30 million tonnes of oil expected to be transported in 2024 and 100 million tonnes by 2030. However, at present, the Chinese side is actively studying the possibility of the project in order to reach a more concrete cooperation plan with Russia in this regard.
(Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak introduced the "Vostok Oil" oil and gas project)
As for the intelligence of customs operations, China and Russia have signed a memorandum of understanding to help both sides build trust, understand intentions, reduce misunderstandings, provide guidance and direction for future cooperation, and establish a basic framework for cooperation. After all, the field of intelligence is also an emerging industry in recent years, and there are many uncertain factors, which also helps both parties to prepare for possible changes in the future in advance. Moreover, a memorandum of understanding is usually not enforceable, so it is more used to outline the preliminary agreement and intentions of the parties.
When it comes to manufacturing and automobile production, everyone recognizes China's development in recent years, and even Russia hopes that China will maximize localized cooperation in the automotive industry. And the Russians made it clear that they want maximum localization, and not just provide machine kits.
However, we must also be cautious about the cooperation that the Russian side is talking about, sometimes the apprentice is taught to starve to death of the master, if China's industry is transferred, it will inevitably lead to the outflow of technology, and then the Russian side may not bring too much sincerity to China to propose cooperation projects, so the brothers sometimes have to settle accounts, and there is nothing wrong with the Chinese side being relatively cautious about this.
(Chinese cars opened up the Russian market)
Finally, it is important to say that Mishustin is very satisfied, and when China and Russia meet, the Russian side said that it will further expand the proportion of its own currency in mutual settlements. And this year China and Russia actually completely got rid of the use of third-country currencies (the dollar).
Objectively speaking, this is a helpless move for Russia, because Russia has been sanctioned by the West and kicked out of many financial systems. But for China, this is a good opportunity for development, because the internationalization of the renminbi is indispensable with the help of Russia, and in this case, China and Russia are to some extent a win-win situation. China helped Russia break the siege, and Russia helped China open up the situation of the renminbi, and everyone benefited.
And the Russian side now sees the rapid momentum of China's economic development, and the Russian "Valdai" report: China's GDP growth rate may reach 5.1% in 2023. China is 3% in 2022. Although the GDP growth rate of developing countries is usually very high, because developing countries have a small base, a low starting point for development, a large space for development and a catch-up effect, it is amazing that China is already the world's second largest economy, and it can maintain such a growth rate. Although China's per capita level has not yet reached the level of developed countries, this figure represents a steady and potential growth trend in China.
It is precisely because of this that the cooperation between Russia and China will be smoother, and it will also help Russia relax its mind and cooperate with China.