Russia reaches out for China’s friendship

[nangyale]

Russia reaches out for China’s friendship

By M K Bhadrakumar – April 15, 2014
Hardly forty-eight hours remain for a crucial four-party meet — Russia, United States, European Union and Ukraine — in Geneva on Thursday. From the heated debate in the UN Security Council over the weekend — as discernible from the speeches by the ambassadors of Russia (here) and the US (here) — and the barbs exchanged between presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama in their latest phone conversation – and the sharply divergent version thereof given in the Washington briefing — Ukraine crisis is cascading and could lead to a US-Russia confrontation. Russia yesterday test-fired its fifth generation ICBM with multiple warheads and stealth features with a range of 12000 kilometers.

Therefore, it is rich in symbolism that Russian Foreign Minister is taking time out and is heading for Beijing for consultations on Tuesday. He will be received by President Xi Jinping. China’s stance on the Ukraine crisis becomes a matter of crucial importance for Moscow. But Lavrov’s mission also relates to the preparations over Putin’s visit to China on May 20.
Without doubt, Putin’s visit to China will be a defining moment in world politics insofar as the strategic partnership between the two countries are poised for a historic uplift. Moscow is turning to Beijing at a time when its ties with the West are in tatters.
The reports from Moscow indicate an unmistakable eagerness to conclude the trillion dollar mega gas deal with China, which has been under negotiation for a decade and would transform the strategic underpinnings of Russia-China partnership.
The Russian foreign ministry has said that Ukraine will receive “special attention” during Lavrov’s consultations in Beijing today. Officially, Moscow insists on drawing satisfaction over China’s neutral stance, but would like to have greater certainty over it if push comes to shove in Russia’s standoff with the West — especially if the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine — Lugansk, Kharkov, Donetsk, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaparozhve and Odessa — were to secede and were to form some sort of ‘Confederal Union’ with Belarus and Russia, which appears to be a high probability.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement in the weekend while announcing Lavrov’s visit to China, “It is well-known, China sticks to a balanced and objective position, demonstrating understanding of the entire totality of factors, including historical ones, leading to new realities in the region.” That is a meaningful formulation that Lavrov wishes to build upon.
Truly, Russia never probably needed China’s support and understanding to this extent as at this point in time in all through the modern history between the two big powers. This comes out very clearly in a lengthy interview given by Lavrov to the government-run China Daily newspaper as the curtain-raiser for his trip to Beijing. Some excerpts are in order:
“The greatest degree of mutual trust, first and foremost in the political sphere… is a sound basis for further progress in each and every area… Close cooperation in the international arena is the most important aspect of the Chinese-Russian strategic partnership… It is pivotal that in today’s complex and unpredictable global context we understand and respect each other’s interests and concerns… We appreciate Beijing’s measured and impartial stance on the Ukrainian crisis, as well as China’s manifest understanding of all its manifold aspects, including the historic ones.”
The trends in the Russian thinking can be identified. One, build strong economic content into the relationship between the two powers and make China a stakeholder, which would go a long way to mitigate any adverse effect of Western sanctions against Russia and which would indeed help Moscow defeat the very purpose of the sanctions.
Two, after a period of benign neglect of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Moscow is revisiting the forum in order to “synchronize” with China its regional policies in Central Asia and Afghanistan with a view to shore up the shared interests of the two powers to keep the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization out of the region.
Three, Moscow hopes to harmonise its stance with China’s over regional issues such as Syria, Iran, North Korea and Afghanistan. (Lavrov mentioned them.) Four, Lavrov hinted in the interview that Russia empathizes with China’s profound disquiet over the rise of militarism in Japan. This is a massive Russian gesture that calls for reciprocal Chinese support for Russia’s core concerns and vital interests.
Five, Moscow would try to eliminate any contradiction arising between its Eurasia Economic Union project and China’s Silk Road Economic Belt. Above all, Lavrov unambiguously stressed the great relevance of the SCO for providing an overarching roof for Russia and China to co-habitate and work together on issues of regional security and stability.
This is what he said in the interview: “We aim to synchronize the efforts to ensure further development of the SCO, one of the key elements of economic growth and strengthened security in Central Asia… regional security is an absolute priority of the SCO member states. Today, the SCO proves to be the best forum for interaction on the Afghan track. We combine our efforts with our Chinese friends to transform the SCO regional counter-terrorism structure into a new multipurpose mechanism for comprehensive counteraction to the security threats and challenges facing the SCO member states.” The full transcript is here on 3 pages.

 

[armchairPrivate]

China does not want to make friends or allies as such. China just want to be cordial and do business with other nations. When you mix business with friendship, things will usually end up badly.

 

[Tayyab1796]

China will be walking on a thin rope... Its needs to do business with both Russia and US .It needs Russian energy supplies and access to US and western markets to sell those products made out of using Russian energy supply . In short China helps everyone from Russian Govt to US (and western) consumers.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Without doubt, Putin’s visit to China will be a defining moment in world politics insofar as the strategic partnership between the two countries are poised for a historic uplift. Moscow is turning to Beijing at a time when its ties with the West are in tatters.
The reports from Moscow indicate an unmistakable eagerness to conclude the trillion dollar mega gas deal with China, which has been under negotiation for a decade and would transform the strategic underpinnings of Russia-China partnership.
The Russian foreign ministry has said that Ukraine will receive “special attention” during Lavrov’s consultations in Beijing today. Officially, Moscow insists on drawing satisfaction over China’s neutral stance, but would like to have greater certainty over it if push comes to shove in Russia’s standoff with the West — especially if the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine — Lugansk, Kharkov, Donetsk, Kherson, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaparozhve and Odessa — were to secede and were to form some sort of ‘Confederal Union’ with Belarus and Russia, which appears to be a high probability.

Trillion dollar mega gas deal. We need to expand our pipeline connections to Russia even further, that should help to offset the effects of Western sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

China is already the largest energy consumer on the planet, and that is set to sky rocket even further as we continue on our path to becoming a developed country. Who knows how much energy we will be consuming in 2030!

And Russia has the largest gas reserves in the world, combined with being the largest oil producer in the world. It is a natural partnership that benefits both sides.

Not to mention China and Russia are considered the main threats to American global hegemony.

It will take several decades more until China is able to properly harness our tremendous domestic energy reserves, including the world's largest shale gas reserves, and one of the greatest amounts of potential renewable energy in the world. Russia will no doubt be a very valuable partner in assuring our energy supplies until we have managed to attain some degree of self-sufficiency.

 

[Superboy]

China and Russia both want to see the US fall from the position of top dog. Until the day the US does so, I see China and Russia being strategic allies.

 

[PoKeMon]

Trillion dollar mega gas deal. We need to expand our pipeline connections to Russia even further, that should help to offset the effects of Western sanctions on Russia's energy sector.

China is already the largest energy consumer on the planet, and that is set to sky rocket even further as we continue on our path to becoming a developed country. Who knows how much energy we will be consuming in 2030!

And Russia has the largest gas reserves in the world, combined with being the largest oil producer in the world. It is a natural partnership that benefits both sides.

Not to mention China and Russia are considered the main threats to American global hegemony.

It will take several decades more until China is able to properly harness our tremendous domestic energy reserves, including the world's largest shale gas reserves, and one of the greatest amounts of potential renewable energy in the world. Russia will no doubt be a very valuable partner in assuring our energy supplies until we have managed to attain some degree of self-sufficiency.

Sometimes I feel, in future, China + India will consume so much of resources that whole rest of the world will conspire to get rid of us.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Sometimes I feel, in future, China + India will consume so much of resources that whole rest of the world will conspire to get rid of us.

This is true, however we can avoid a Malthusian catastrophe by going into "alternative" energy sources.

For example, China has the world's largest shale gas reserves, and India has the world's largest Thorium reserves.

China's shale gas reserves are enough to last for thousands of years, I think India's Thorium reserves are the same.

Not to mention renewable energy, which by itself has truly enormous potential if we can harness it. Combine that with our already substantial amount of regular resources (coal, etc) and we are golden.

There is a way forward, we just need to grab the opportunity.

 

[SrNair]

Sometimes I feel, in future, China + India will consume so much of resources that whole rest of the world will conspire to get rid of us.

Thats right.West mainly US already show their irritation when Barack Obama criticize both India and China( middle class peoples in both countries) is main reason for global inflation .