Putin's visit to China: Sino-Russian trade volume surged to $240 billion! Will the Sino-Russian military-industrial trade be reversed?

According to a detailed report released by Xinhua News Agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially started his state visit to the mainland. Before this important visit to China, Putin was invited to give an in-depth interview to a Xinhua News Agency reporter. He conveyed to the public the view that bilateral relations between Russia and the mainland have climbed to historically rare heights, and that this good trend has not stagnated, but has been deepening and improving while maintaining stability.

After in-depth analysis by industry experts, over the past 20 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has always placed the friendly diplomatic relations between China and Russia at a strategic level, and whenever the two countries have exchanges, he will deeply and meticulously discuss the core issues of common concern to both sides. It is expected that his visit will once again focus on the strategic planning of China-Russia economic and trade cooperation, aiming to further promote mutual benefit and win-win results between the two sides.

In the field of economic cooperation, China has achieved remarkable results. The trade volume between China and Russia has continued to grow, and China has become Russia's largest trading partner for many years, and Russia has also become an important trading partner of China. Especially in high-tech fields such as electric vehicles, new energy, and artificial intelligence, there is great potential for cooperation between China and Russia, and broad prospects for cooperation have been shown.

So what advanced technological resources are there on the Russian side that are worthy of our in-depth cooperation and introduction into the country? First of all, Russia has world-leading technologies in the fields of aerospace and nuclear energy, which are of great significance to the mainland's scientific and technological innovation and industrial upgrading. In addition, Russia's technological superiority in aero engines, high-precision instruments, etc. is also worthy of our attention.

At the same time, China also has many high-tech equipment that can attract the attention of Russia, in the fields of new energy batteries, artificial intelligence, 5G communications, etc., China has achieved world-leading results, these technologies have not only been widely used in China, but also provide new opportunities for Sino-Russian cooperation.

According to authoritative data released by Reference News, trade between China and Russia has made a significant leap in the past year, with the trade volume surging to more than $240 billion, a growth rate of 26%. In particular, Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become China's largest crude oil importer, a shift that not only highlights the deepening of Sino-Russian energy cooperation, but also indicates that the two countries will cooperate more closely in the energy sector in the future.

The prospects for Sino-Russian trade cooperation remain bright in the future. It is expected that the trade volume will continue to maintain a strong growth momentum this year, which is expected to set a new historical record. Especially in the field of natural gas, cooperation between China and Russia has also shown strong growth. The high annual growth rate and the continuous expansion of trade have further strengthened the strategic partnership between the two countries in the energy sector.

On the eve of President Putin's visit to China, important progress came from the China-Russia West Route natural gas pipeline project. According to the project's latest plan, the traditional route through Mongolia will be optimized and replaced with a route through Kazakhstan, through the Altai Mountains, and finally to Xinjiang, China. This adjustment not only shortens the transportation distance, but also improves the efficiency and safety of transportation.

According to Russia's plan, if China's natural gas pipelines can be fully operated at full capacity in the future, it is expected that by about 2030, Russia will deliver about 98 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China every year. This huge supply is equivalent to three-quarters of Russia's total exports to the European Union before the Ukraine crisis. This shift not only helps Russia mitigate the economic losses caused by the EU's energy sanctions, but also provides China with a stable and reliable natural gas supply guarantee, achieving a real win-win situation and injecting strong impetus into the economic development of both countries, and the two countries will continue to work together to cooperate in more areas to create a better future.

During 2023, Chinese automobiles have ushered in significant growth momentum in the Russian market and have been enthusiastically sought after by consumers. According to the data, Russia imported nearly 1 million cars from China, making China the largest source of car imports for Russia. A striking phenomenon is that for every two new cars sold in Russia, one is made by a well-known Chinese brand. According to the forecasts of industry experts, in view of the continuous growth of market demand, it is expected that the market share of Chinese cars in Russia is expected to further increase to more than 80% this year.

The economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia has shown a high degree of complementarity. Russia, as the world's leading supplier of energy and mineral resources, has provided solid support for China's economic development through its stable resource output. At the same time, China has also provided Russia with a large number of high-quality smart electronic products, such as cars, mobile phones and computers, to meet the needs of the Russian market. However, it is worth noting that in addition to the remarkable results of cooperation in the automotive manufacturing industry, there is still a broad space for cooperation between China and Russia in many other fields. These potential areas of cooperation may include core industries such as military technology, heavy technology and equipment, and chips and semiconductors, and in-depth cooperation in these fields is expected to bring more substantial economic returns to the two countries.

In the equipment system of the Russian Navy, nuclear submarines occupy a crucial position and can be considered its last strategic bargaining chip. These powerful underwater weapons include classic models such as the Typhoon, Oscar, and Akula classes left over from the former Soviet Union, as well as the most advanced Boreas-class independently developed by Russia. Regardless of the type of nuclear submarine, they are a global leader in terms of technology, and India once spent up to $3 billion to lease an Akula-class nuclear submarine from Russia. Although China has purchased a large amount of military technology from the Soviet Union and Russia in the past, China has never imported any form of technology from the outside world in the field of nuclear submarines, and if Russia can open the door to China in nuclear submarine technology, there is no doubt that it will greatly promote the further development and improvement of China's military technology.

At a grand defense exhibition held in Russia, Mr. Shoigu, then Minister of Defense, paid great attention to the three cutting-edge military equipment displayed by China. These three types of equipment are: the high-profile imported 075 amphibious assault ship, the powerful Pterodactyl II large reconnaissance and strike UAV, and the highly combat-capable Type 052D missile destroyer.

Russia's long-standing desire for a new generation of amphibious assault ships is well known. They had intended to buy two advanced Mistral-class amphibious assault ships from France, but the deal was interrupted by the Crimea incident and severe sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries. Given the current economic strength and the limitations of independent research and development capabilities, Russia, when looking for alternatives, found that China's amphibious assault ships were close to or even surpassed their American counterparts in terms of performance, which undoubtedly aroused their great interest.

If Russia can successfully introduce these Chinese-made sophisticated military equipment, it will greatly enhance its capabilities in amphibious landing operations and effectively make up for its shortcomings in this field. This will not only help to enhance Russia's defense capabilities, but will also further consolidate the cooperation between China and Russia in the field of military technology.