Large-scale projects were advanced between Russia and China, as reported today by the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev. He reported, “One agreement is in the field of satellites and, accordingly, satellite production, satellite launches, and joint work in the space industry. The second partnership is joint investment with the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)… There are many joint funds that have already been created there, and we will actively invest together with them.” Dmitriev said the third agreement focuses on infrastructure cooperation with “a leading Chinese architectural company,” which he said would help implement “very complex, comprehensive Russian-Chinese infrastructure projects.”
On his Max channel, Dmitriev identified the three partnerships: The first agreement was “with the Wenchang International Aerospace City Administration and China Construction Eighth Engineering Division.” The second, a signed agreement with the China-SCO Demonstration Zone and the Russian-Chinese Guild of Commerce, and the third as a signed agreement with the China Architecture Design & Research Group.
Further, Dmitriev was quoted by the Vesti Telegram channel, as reported by TASS, that the U.S. could be involved: “As part of RDIF, we are also looking at a number of projects involving both China and the United States. We believe that within the framework of partnership with China, a number of projects could also involve American investors.”
Further details were not specified, but the one obvious project that could involve the three countries is the Bering Strait tunnel. Dmitriev is a great fan of the project and has highlighted the project several times. In the context of last August’s Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Dmitriev branded it the “Trump-Putin Tunnel.”
Less well known is that the project was also proposed in 2014 by China’s state-run Beijing Times’ coverage of Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering: “Right now we’re already in discussions. Russia has already been thinking about this for many years.” He dubbed it the “China-Russia-Canada-America” line which could run for 13,000 km and take two days traveling time, averaging 350km/h (220 mph). Wand said that the tunnel technology is “already in place.”
The Beijing Times at the time said that the project was only one of four proposed international high-speed rail projects. The first would run from London via Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Kiev and Moscow, where it would split into two routes, one running to China through Kazakhstan and the other through eastern Siberia. The second would begin in the far-western Chinese city of Urumqi and then run through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey to Germany. The third would begin in the south-western city of Kunming and end in Singapore.
