At the end of his visit to China, Putin returned to Moscow, and the Russian side got what it wanted, and the proximity of China and Russia was the most worrying to the United States. During Putin's visit to China, what projects have been promoted between China and Russia? As China and Russia approach, why is the US worried?
On May 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his two-day visit to China and returned to Moscow by special plane. According to comprehensive media reports, Putin's two-day itinerary can be described as "very compact", not only visiting Beijing for talks with Chinese high-level leaders, but also arriving in Harbin to participate in the 8th China-Russia Expo and the opening ceremony of the 4th China-Russia Interregional Cooperation Forum.
Not only that, Putin also exchanged views with teachers and students of Harbin Institute of Technology, fully demonstrating the in-depth cooperation and friendly relations between China and Russia from high-level to non-governmental, from politics to science and technology, and academic fields. The reason why Putin chose Harbin for the second stop of his visit to China is also deeply related to the strengthening of border regional cooperation between China and Russia, and also indicates that the future cooperation between the two sides will be deeper, especially in the field of energy trade between the two countries.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Novak said that China and Russia are expected to sign a contract for the construction of the "Power of Siberia 2" gas pipeline soon and complete preliminary preparations. It is reported that since China and Russia signed a natural gas transmission contract worth up to $400 billion in 2014, Russia has always regarded "Power of Siberia 2" as the main construction project of cooperation with China.
However, the project has been stalled after years of disagreement on the issue, and now, during his visit to China, the project has finally moved forward, indicating that the Putin government has the answer it wants. You must know that if the "Power of Siberia 2" is completed, it can deliver an additional 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China every year, which is equivalent to a "Nord Stream 1", which is undoubtedly a relief for Russia's energy trade, which has been subject to Western sanctions.
It can be expected that similar cooperation will spring up like mushrooms after a rain in the future, which is obviously undesirable for the United States, which has always been worried about the approach of China and Russia. On the 17th local time, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claimed on Putin's visit to China that the United States is uneasy about the development of relations between Russia and China and will continue to pay attention to the development of relations between the two countries.
As everyone knows, in recent years, the United States has been hyping up the so-called "Sino-Russian alliance theory" and the so-called "Russia's dependence on China" in an attempt to sow discord between China and Russia. Some analysts believe that the United States is not afraid of the "Sino-Russian alliance" itself, but rather the serious result that the "monolith" between China and Russia may lead to the complete collapse of US hegemony.
After all, the two great powers of China and Russia are not only powerful, but also neighbors bordering each other. In the eyes of American politicians, both geopolitically and from a military point of view, the "combination" of China and Russia will pose a great threat to the United States. China is firmly located in East Asia, with influence radiating to Southeast Asia and Pacific island countries, the Middle East and Africa, and even some countries in South America, while Russia has a very important influence on Central Asia and the South Asian subcontinent, and is geographically adjacent to Europe.
It is conceivable that once China and Russia reach a strategic consensus and even directly become "allies", then the influence of the United States in various regions will be greatly reduced. Of course, China and Russia have stressed on more than one occasion that "partnership is not aligned", and the so-called "China-Russia alliance" hyped up by the US side is purely fabricated out of thin air and is completely untenable. However, from a practical point of view, the United States' worries about the collapse of its hegemony are not groundless, and the fact that China and Russia are getting closer and closer reflects the unpopularity of US hegemony and a rebellion against the so-called "political correctness" of the West led by the United States. To put it bluntly, the root of the problem is not in China and Russia, but in the United States itself.