Sunday, May 14th., 2017
Stronger Together: Who Will Benefit From Putin's Visit to China's Key Forum
©
Sputnik/ Aleksey Nikolskyi
Commenting
on Russian President Vladimir Putin's current visit to China, the
Russian online newspaper Vzglyad specifically underscored Beijing's
willingness to heed Moscow's interests when implementing its key foreign
policy strategy.
Earlier
on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing to take
part in the One Belt, One Road international forum, focused on China's
plan for developing Eurasian infrastructure and strengthening ties
between the countries of the continent.
In 2013, China announced its new economic strategy, called "One Belt,
One Way," which aims at developing the infrastructure in Eurasia that
will allow the creation of a trade corridor directly supplying goods
from the eastern to western part of the continent on favorable terms.
It encompasses two main directions of development: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin
and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Beijing
forum to discuss the current situation on the Korean Peninsula in light
of North Korea's latest missile test.
The Russian online newspaper Vzglyad,
in turn, recalled that this is the first meeting between Vladimir Putin
and Xi Jinping in 2017, and that the previous talks between the two
leaders took place in November 2016.
Since then, the international situation changed significantly, Vzglyad said, referring to a chill in Russian-US ties and burgeoning relations between Beijing and Washington. Even so, the newspaper added, the US Navy is still able at any time to block all the straits through which China conducts trade with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, something that will deprive China of the necessary energy resources and opportunities to export its goods.
In the meantime, Putin said during Sunday's meeting with Xi that the governments of Russia and China are preparing a package of documents on common projects that are expected to be signed in the course of the Chinese President's official visit to Moscow.
Putin
also congratulated his Chinese counterpart with the successful start
of the "One Belt, One Road" forum, and said that Russia and China need
new cooperation mechanisms and the removal of barriers in the economic
sphere.
Xi, for his part, welcomed Putin's participation at the forum, and
said that his speech at the opening ceremony gave a powerful signal
of the intention of Russia and China to promote the formation of the
open world economy and deepening of regional cooperation between the two
countries.
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It encompasses two main directions of development: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road.
"Of course, the situation on the Korean
Peninsula has been discussed in detail [during the meeting]. The sides
have expressed a mutual concern about the development of the situation
and the growing tensions," Peskov said.
Since then, the international situation changed significantly, Vzglyad said, referring to a chill in Russian-US ties and burgeoning relations between Beijing and Washington. Even so, the newspaper added, the US Navy is still able at any time to block all the straits through which China conducts trade with Europe, the Middle East and Africa, something that will deprive China of the necessary energy resources and opportunities to export its goods.
"That is why the idea of a new silk road is
of paramount importance to China which sees it as a project of direct
land access to European and Asian markets. Moreover, it is a project
which will help stabilize the situation in Central Asia and the Middle
East. Last but not least, this is a project to add to the creation of a
self-sufficient Eurasia," Vzglyad pointed out.
It is clear that that the project can only be implemented through the
joint efforts of Russia and China, according to the newspaper.
"Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping also understand
this, which is why the Sino-Russian ties received such a boost the joint
work began. The choice made by them is of a strategic one, and it can
be called a [political] course of the entire 21st century. It is no
accident that Russia is now turning towards the Pacific Ocean [in terms
of its foreign policy]," Vzglyad added.
It's safe to assume that there are no changes in the international
situation that are capable of preventing Moscow and Beijing
from sticking to the chosen course, according to Vzglyad.
In this vein, the newspaper referred to Xi
Jinping's message to Vladimir Putin last month, in which the Chinese
leader said in particular that right now, Russian-Chinese ties "are
rightfully called a model of relations between the great powers."
Xi stressed that "these very strong and mature tries" are the relations of "strategic interaction and strength."In the meantime, Putin said during Sunday's meeting with Xi that the governments of Russia and China are preparing a package of documents on common projects that are expected to be signed in the course of the Chinese President's official visit to Moscow.
"At the bilateral track I consider your
upcoming working visit to the Russian Federation to be the key event. We
are waiting for you… Our government, the presidential administration,
the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China are preparing the
package of documents, including the action plan to implement our
strategic initiative for the coming years," Putin said.
According to him, bilateral trade turnover increased by 37 percent
in January-March 2017, and its structure has changed with the increased
share of machine and agriculture products.
©
REUTERS/ Michael Peterson/USAF/Handout
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