In the past few days, China and Russia have held two high-level meetings in Moscow, one is the 11th meeting of the China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee and the other is the 21st meeting of the China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee.
According to the results reported by the Russian side, China and Russia updated the list of more than 60 major projects, announcing a total investment of more than $138 billion.
At the meeting of the China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee, the Chinese side pointed out that it is willing to work with Russia to build a high-level energy cooperative partnership. China also put forward four suggestions on promoting the high-quality development of China-Russia energy cooperation, including optimizing the policy environment for energy cooperation, creating favorable conditions for the construction and operation of major energy projects, and deepening the integration of upstream, midstream and downstream energy cooperation.
The Russian side expressed its readiness to work with China to expand energy cooperation at a deeper level and in a wider range of fields, and to help the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era.
In fact, Russia has very high expectations for cooperation in the energy sector. Russia plans to increase the supply of natural gas to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline to 38 billion cubic meters in 2025. Of course, the Putin government has a greater appetite and aims to make Russia's annual gas exports to China reach more than 100 billion cubic meters.
So how can Russia achieve this goal? The answer points to the China-Russia-Mongolia gas pipeline project.
As we all know, during Putin's last visit to China, China and Russia failed to sign an agreement on the China-Russia-Mongolia gas pipeline. Although the two sides have been in contact, there are two main obstacles: first, the contract price has not been negotiated, and second, Mongolia has not reached an agreement.
In response to the first point, China also gave the right word this time, that is, China and Russia need to jointly promote the implementation of large-scale energy projects. The four words "jointly advancing" reflect China's openness to the China-Russia-Mongolia natural gas project, while Russia has been hesitant to make a decision.
As for the second point, with the general elections in Mongolia, there are constant variables.
After the election of the new parliament of Mongolia, although the ruling party Mongolia People's Party won 68 seats, the number of votes and parliamentary seats shrank significantly; The opposition Democratic Party is in the limelight, winning a record 42 seats.
With the reshuffle of political power in Mongolia, United States also intends to nail the back of China and Russia. A few days ago, Blinken announced a visit to six of China's neighbors, the last stop being Mongolia.
Although the United States and Mongolia have not yet announced the specific arrangements for the visit, it is not surprising that Blinken will once again provoke Mongolia's relations with China and Russia, advocate the so-called "third neighbor", and seek to strengthen US-Mongolia relations. The China-Russia-Mongolia gas pipeline project, which has not been finalized, is likely to become a target.
President of Mongolia
Of course, we also have a fallback plan. As a "middleman", if Mongolia takes the express train of Sino-Russian energy cooperation, it will be mutually beneficial and win-win for the three parties, and it can also take the opportunity to make a profit to boost the economy; But if this opportunity is abandoned, the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline can also bypass Mongolia and pass through Kazakhstan.
Earlier, the Kazakhstan ambassador to Russia said that Russia plans to build a pipeline to transport natural gas to China through Kazakhstan, and the two sides are currently negotiating.
After all, Mongolia is not the only option, and if they pass up this great opportunity, then China and Russia will not mind giving the cake to Saxestan.