Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin culminated his two-day trip to China today with a meeting with President Xi Jinping in which the two reaffirmed the importance of their nations’ bilateral ties and strategic partnership. “To ensure the sound growth of China-Russia relations is a strategic choice made by both sides based on the fundamental interests of the two peoples,” Xi was quoted by the Foreign Ministry as saying. “China supports the Russian people in following the development path they have chosen. China will work with Russia and take the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year as a new starting point to magnify the positive effect of our high-level political relations and continue supporting each other in economic and social development and national revitalization.”
This is Mishustin’s second trip to Beijing this year. Discussion focused on the potential for expanding bilateral cooperation, especially in areas such as economy, trade, energy, connectivity and others. Xi stressed the importance of jointly “maintaining the security and stability of industrial and supply chains.” For the first 11 months of this year, bilateral trade hit $218 billion, surpassing the $200 billion annual trade target that Xi and President Vladimir Putin had set for the year 2024! By the end of this year, that figure is estimated to reach $230 billion. Mishustin pointed out that 90% of trade and transactions are carried out either in yuan or rubles.
Among other topics discussed were large scale joint projects and addressing bottlenecks in infrastructure connectivity and insufficient grain transportation capacity. Some joint projects include the second Russia-China land gas pipeline; the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline; the China-Russia `New Land Grain Corridor,’ which was just started in December. This is a grain hub located between Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East and China’s northeastern province of Heilongjiang, the agreement for which was signed at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok last September. The goal is to significantly increase Russian grain shipments to China.
