The Great Game Changer: Belt and Road Intiative (BRI; OBOR)

[Tractor]

Russian want to exploit mines in Mongolia while itself is rich in natural resources.
The Russian had already robbed almost every good things from Mongolia including Lake Baikal,the Mongolian should ask Putin to give it back.

 

[TaiShang]

Why would China complain? Russia-West confrontation is a strategic blessing for China. Not that the West can really mess with Russia, but, the whole saga takes a lot of pressure off China.

***

West's antics pushing Russia closer to China

The recent NATO summit in Wales, held against the background of the armed conflict in Ukraine, has brought back the Cold War atmosphere to Europe. NATO's partnership with Russia remains formally suspended. In fact, NATO is treating Russia more as an adversary than a partner.

The alliance is setting up a "Rapid Reaction Force" to deal with emergencies on Europe's eastern flank. The alliance's military infrastructure is moving toward that exposed flank, and closer to Russia's borders. NATO forces will now spend more time exercising in the east, and their presence there will visibly grow. NATO-leaning Ukraine, which the alliance alleges is an object of "Russian aggression", has been promised financial and military support.

The Ukraine crisis is not just about Eastern Europe, it is also about the world order. The Kremlin is seeking Washington's recognition of what it regards as its core national security interest: keeping Ukraine as a buffer zone between Russia and the West, particularly NATO. Washington, on principle, denies Moscow this "imperial privilege", and insists on the freedom of all countries, including Ukraine, to choose alliances and affiliations.

The stakes are high. Should Russia be rolled back in Ukraine, not only will its international position materially suffer, but also the power of the Kremlin inside the country might be dangerously undermined. On the other hand, if the US were to eventually accept Russia's demand for a "zone of comfort" along its borders, Washington's credibility as the global dominant power, the norm-setter and arbiter will suffer.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of course, is no military alliance, and even less a rival of NATO. Its member states, however, are closely watching the US-Russian match being played out at the western end on the great Eurasian continent. Some, like the Central Asian states, are essentially ducking, hedging, or running for cover. China, which seeks to defend its own core interests in East Asia and the Western Pacific, looks at the current Russian-American competition through the prism of its own relations with Washington and Moscow.

China has a very important relationship to keep with the US. Playing a long game, Beijing usually avoids direct collisions with Washington, and means to profit from the US-initiated globalization to the fullest extent possible. Like Russia, however, China would also want to carve out a comfort zone for itself along its eastern borders and shores, and, like Russia again, it faces the reality of the US' physical presence and US-led alliances there. What Washington is now doing in an effort to contain Moscow in Eastern Europe provides important information to Beijing in East Asia.

There is more to Beijing's reaction than just watching and drawing conclusions. The apparently long-term rupture of Russia's relations with the West offers an opportunity to the Chinese leadership to enhance its already close relationship with the Kremlin and thus turn the global geopolitical balance in its favor - not unlike former US president Richard Nixon and former secretary of state Henry Kissinger who reached out to Chairman Mao Zedong in 1972. The Russians, angry with Washington, are now more amenable to giving China wider access to their energy riches and their advanced military technology. The Western sanctions pushing Russia out of the international financial system are also making Moscow more ready and willing to back the Chinese yuan against the US dollar.

A Sino-Russian military alliance against the US is still a rather long shot. Yet the two countries' political, economic and military alignment is getting thicker. An expellee from the G8, which is now back to G7, Russia is now eagerly embracing the non-West, particularly in Asia and Latin America. Within the non-West, China is unquestionably the premier power. Managing Russia will not be easy for anyone, but the country is a precious resource for China. So far, Beijing has displayed more tact in dealing with Moscow than any other major player in the world. Building on this success, it can now set its bar higher.

To a China which is rising and raising its global profile, BRICS is an asymmetrical equivalent of the G7, albeit in a very different shape and form. The SCO, to use a similar analogy, is an asymmetrical analogue to NATO, but as a political organization of continental Asia (including Russia), rather than a military bloc. The inclusion of India and Pakistan into the SCO is a logical next step. Iran, currently an observer, can follow later.

Enhancing the SCO's security credentials and extending its reach requires a major qualitative upgrade of China's strategic thinking and diplomacy, and an even closer partnership with Russia. The SCO summit in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, will probably not see this yet, but it might become a point when the balance of Eurasia has decisively turned in China's favor. Beijing would need to thank Washington for it.

The author is director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.

 

[TaiShang]

Xi proposes to build China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor
2014-09-12

President Xi put forward the proposal at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj on the sidelines of the 14th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

Highlighting that the development strategies of the three neighboring countries are highly compatible, Xi noted that both Russia and Mongolia have positively responded to China's vision on building an economic belt along the Silk Road.

The Silk Road Economic Belt initiative, proposed by Xi during his visit to Central Asia last year, eyes a revival of the ancient trade route linking China with Central Asia and Europe.

The three countries, Xi pointed out, can dovetail the Silk Road Economic Belt initiative with Russia's transcontinental rail plan and Mongolia's Prairie Road program, and jointly build a China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor.

On building the corridor, Xi called on the three sides to strengthen traffic interconnectivity, facilitate cargo clearance and transportation, and study the feasibility of building a transnational power grid.

As part of the initiative, Xi also suggested that the three countries beef up cooperation in such areas as tourism, think tank, media, environmental protection, and disaster prevention and relief.

The three countries should deepen cooperation within the framework of the SCO, jointly safeguard regional security, and achieve common development, said the Chinese leader.

Founded in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO groups China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

On international cooperation, Xi noted that the three countries need to jointly safeguard the basic norms governing international relations, advocate the new security concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and collaboration, and jointly promote the political resolution of international disputes and hot issues.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolia's President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj,in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, Sept. 11, 2014. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

China supports Mongolia's participation in regional affairs, said Xi, inviting Mongolia to participate in the activities China and Russia plan to hold next year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victories of the World Anti-Fascist War and the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, as well as the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

Noting that the three countries are good neighbors and partners, Xi said the trilateral summit is of great significance to deepening mutual trust, promoting win-win cooperation among the three parties, and pushing forward regional cooperation in Northeast Asia.

He also voiced the belief that the trilateral summit will lay a firm foundation for the development of a closer trilateral relationship.

For his part, Putin said the three countries should enhance exchanges, dialogue and coordination.

China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative offers important opportunities for trilateral cooperation, the Russian president said, calling on the three sides to combine their development plans and establish a long-term and stable cooperative relationship in the areas of energy, mining and transportation infrastructure construction.

He also called on the three nations, all champions of multipolarization, to make joint efforts in safeguarding regional security and stability.

Meanwhile, the Mongolian president said his country attaches strategic importance to developing closer good-neighborly friendship and cooperation with China and Russia.

Noting that Xi's and Putin's recent visits to Mongolia have advanced Mongolia's ties with China and Russia, Elbegdorj said his country is willing to enhance cooperation with the two countries, especially in the fields of transportation infrastructure interconnectivity and cross-border transportation.

Mongolia is keen on strengthening cooperation with such mechanisms as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and participating in regional affairs, said Elbegdorj.

During the meeting, the three leaders also decided to establish a consultation mechanism at the vice foreign ministerial level to coordinate and promote trilateral cooperation.

They also agreed to hold more trilateral summits in the future if need be.

 

[cirr]

Xi proposes to build China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor

CCTV.com

09-12-2014 19:25 BJT

Chinese President Xi Jinping has discussed his proposal for a Silk Road economic corridor with his counterparts from Mongolia and Russia.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Mongolia's President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, Sept. 11, 2014. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

Speaking on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tajikistan, Xi Jinping said the development strategies of the three neighbouring countries are highly compatible. He called for improved transport links, quicker customs clearance and a possible transnational power grid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj agreed with President Xi’s proposal and called for more cooperation and interconnectivity between the three nations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolia's President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj,in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, Sept. 11, 2014. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

Xi proposes to build China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor - CCTV News - CCTV.com English

SCO Backs Ukraine Peace Plan, China Pledges $5 Billion

September 12, 2014

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has backed a cease-fire deal agreed for eastern Ukraine last week and called for talks to continue until the conflict is resolved.

The call for a negotiated settlement of the conflict between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists came in a declaration adopted on September 12 at a summit of the regional grouping comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and host Tajikistan.

In a swipe at the United States, the SCO leaders also condemned any unilateral buildup of missile defense systems.

President Vladimir Putin said that Russia, which assumed the group's rotating presidency, will seek to boost the SCO's role in preserving regional stability.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said China, which has used the group to expand ties with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, will provide a $5 billion loan to finance joint SCO projects.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax

SCO Backs Ukraine Peace Plan, China Pledges $5 Billion

 

[cirr]

$5 billion in loans offered to members of group

2014-09-13 11:14

China Daily Web Editor: Wang Fan

China offered $5 billion in loans to other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for project financing, in a bid to provide them more flexible trade options, infrastructure facilities and security solutions to develop a regional economy.

President Xi Jinping urged SCO members to accelerate the pace of establishing an SCO financial institution to assist the regional trade of agricultural products, energy cooperation and scientific development.

"China will strengthen energy cooperation and security of oil and gas pipelines with SCO members, as well as diversify the trade of agricultural products between SCO members," Xi said during the 14th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the SCO, held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on Friday.

Xi said the SCO members should deepen energy cooperation at various stages such as production, transmission and processing.

The heads of SCO states at the meeting agreed to speed up establishment of an SCO development fund and bank, as well as deepen regional trade with one another.

China agreed in 2013 to establish a foundation for China-Eurasian economic cooperation that has drawn the participation of Asian and European countries including SCO member countries and observer countries. The initial phase of the foundation is $1 billion, mainly for infrastructure, regional connectivity, energy and agricultural development.

SCO members have already established two non-governmental organizations — the Business Council and the Interbank Association — to strengthen cooperation in the financial sector.

The SCO has targeted 2020 as the most important year for the free flow of goods, services, technology and capital among members.

China has proposed a number of measures to reach this goal, including allowing national currencies a higher international profile and getting banks in member states to adopt a more unified approach.

"The financial assistance will embody tangible efforts linking growth centers such as Beijing, Moscow and St. Petersburg, and developing new growth hubs such as Tashkent, Almaty and Dushanbe in the region," said Sun Zhuangzhi, secretary-general of the SCO research center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"From a long-term perspective, the economic cooperation will fully support trade, private investment, industrial productivity and service industry in this massive regional market," said Sun.

China's trade with other SCO members surged from $14.23 billion in 2002 to $129.45 billion last year, and China has proposed a series of strategic concepts, including the Silk Road economic belt. All six SCO members and the five observers are on the ancient Silk Road trade route.

Chen Yurong, a senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, said this is a practical step for SCO members to stimulate exports and gain foreign investment, especially the landlocked countries in Central Asia. They need effective channels to connect the European and Asia-Pacific regional markets.

 

[Beidou2020]

SCO will have a development bank too?

 

[haidian]

Russia and China discussing 32 joint projects - Russian deputy PM
Sat Sep 13, 2014 7:49am

MOSCOW, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Russia and China are discussing more than 30 joint economic projects in a variety of areas from petrochemicals to banking, Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said on Saturday after visiting China last week.

As Russia was hit by new sanctions by the United States and the European Union on Friday over its involvement in Ukraine, Shuvalov said Asian countries such as China did not support the Western sanctions and were keen to cooperate with Russia.

"Yesterday in China we discussed 32 projects. And they cover absolutely everything: petrochemicals, the banking sector, work in the area of food products, and very, very varied projects," Shuvalov said during an appearance on "Vesti on Saturday with Sergey Brilev", a TV discussion programme.

"It isn't just gold, oil, gas and copper that we discussed yesterday," Shuvalov said. "And in general many people in Russia are under the impression that China is only interested in natural resources."

Shuvalov visited China and Singapore last week to meet investors and government officials.

Faced with Western sanctions, which are damaging Russia's economy, Moscow has been playing up opportunities for economic cooperation with Asia.

"China announces every time at the beginning of any meeting that they categorically do not accept any sanctions, which they consider illegal," he said.

He also said Russia was studying China's own experience of sanctions imposed against it after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, arguing that China surmounted them with the help of liberalising economic reforms which Russia should copy.

"If one looks at the experience of '89 after the events on Tiananmen Square we, of course, have noticed what happened and how it happened. Therefore this thesis about greater economic freedom is in part (based on) the experience of the People's Republic of China," he said. (Reporting by Jason Bush and Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Susan Fenton)

 

[senheiser]

ITAR-TASS: Russia - Russia, China negotiate over 30 joint projects worth over $100 bln — official September 19, 15:24 UTC+4
Russia and China have recently achieved a significant boost in their bilateral relations, primarily in the economic, energy, space and scientific as well as military spheres

© EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG


SOCHI, September 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia and China are discussing over 30 joint projects worth over $100 billion with the frames of the mutual economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, said on Friday.


“We have set up an intergovernmental Russian-Chinese commission and recently discussed over 30 projects worth over $100 billion,” Dmitriev said addressing the International Investment Forum Sochi-2014.

The bilateral investment commission comprising both private and state-run companies gathered for its very first session in China last week.

“Asian investors are interested in Russia, however, it takes little longer than usual to establish relations with them and it is important that the relations are organized in a more system-like manner,” Dmitriev added.


The Intergovernmental Russia-China Commission for Investment, co-chaired by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov and Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Zhang Gaoli, held its inaugural session early last week in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

Following the session Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Dmitriev was appointed a co-chair of the Commission’s Consultative Committee of Entrepreneurs representing the Russian side. Chairman and CEO of China Investment Corporation (CIC) Ding Xuedong was appointed to co-chair the committee on the Chinese side.

Russia and China have recently achieved a significant boost in their bilateral relations, primarily in the economic, energy, space and scientific as well as military spheres.


One of the milestone deals between the countries was the natural gas supply contract signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China in May.

Russian energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a 30-year contract on Russian natural gas supplies to China via the eastern route worth a total of $400 billion.

Over the past few years, the two countries have noticeably increased the intensity of their contacts. China has become Russia’s major trade partner while Russia is in the top ten of China’s main trade partners. In 2002-2013, bilateral trade hiked from $12 billion to $89.2 billion.

Russia and China are planning to bring their bilateral trade turnover to $100 billion by 2015 and to $200 billion by 2020.

 

[DoTell]

Good going. Now that will be $100 billion well spent.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Fantastic news.

The important thing now is to set up our alternative to the SWIFT network, conduct more transactions through UnionPay (instead of Visa), and most importantly to use Yuan and Rubles to do business with each other.

America knew that by sanctioning Russia, they would eventually destroy their most important economic weapon, i.e. economic sanctions. Since it would force all the countries (that are not in the American camp) to find another way.

It was our mistake that we did not do it sooner. Let both China and Russia remember this, and take better steps to protect ourselves in the future.

 

[The Unnamed]

surprisingly, modijis becoming pm and ukraine was round about the same time. world politics was never the same.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

BEIJING, September 23. / ITAR-TASS/. China will never support or join recently imposed sanctions against Russia, Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper chamber, said on Tuesday following her talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The speaker of the Federation Council quoted the Chinese president as saying, that China will never support sanctions against Russia, no matter how much pressure is exerted on them.

According to Matviyenko, China publicly stated its opinion on the inadmissibility of unilateral sanctions, their illegitimacy and counter-productivity.

“This is where our positions absolutely coincide,” she said adding that both Russia and China consider such sanctions as “ineffective and view them as attempts to exert pressure on sovereign states in order to weaken them and change their positions, to restrain their development.”

“This is China’s public position and we are grateful to China for such evaluations,” Matviyenko, who is currently on an official visit to China, said.

She added that no sanctions would influence partnership relations of Russia and China saying that “the Russian-Chinese strategic cooperation is aimed at the long-term perspective and it is susceptible neither to any form of a political environment nor to anyone’s ambitions since it is in the fundamental interests of our peoples.”

Western sanctions against Russia

Last week the European Union and the United States introduced a new set of sanctions targeting Russian officials and companies.

The so-called “black list” of EU sanctions published by the organization’s Official Journal on Friday included major Russian energy and defense companies as well as officials from Russia and Ukraine.

The West started to impose sanctions on Russia in March 2014 over the events in Ukraine. First, an early EU summit stalled the talks on a visa-free regime and a new base agreement on Russia-EU cooperation. Further on the sanctions were grouped into three categories - personal, corporate and sectoral.

By the beginning of September some 420 Russian individuals and 143 companies had been put on the sanction lists of the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and Norway.

In response to Western sanctions, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on August 6 to ban for one year the imports of agricultural, raw and food products from the countries, which imposed sanctions against Russia.

Prime Minister Medvedev announced on August 7 that the Russian government imposed a one-year ban on imports of beef, pork, poultry, fish, cheeses, fruit, vegetables and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the European Union, the United States and Norway.

ITAR-TASS: World - China will never support sanctions against Russia — Russian official

 

[Beidou2020]

Western world can't isolate Russia unless it has China on board.

China gives Russia an escape route which makes Western sanctions lose their effectiveness.

 

[Sonyuke_Songpaisan]

Western world can't isolate Russia unless it has China on board.

China gives Russia an escape route which makes Western sanctions lose their effectiveness.

but what benifit we can get from the support to ruassia?

 

[Beidou2020]

but what benifit we can get from the support to ruassia?

Geopolitical support.
Energy.
Raw Materials.
etc

If China didn't have Russia, it would be totally isolated and the West would gang up on China and China would have no where to turn to. Russia gives that support in various ways.

Russia is the 2nd most powerful country.