RUSSIA-CHINA The new Silk Road, blocked in Ukraine

With the invasion promoted by Putin, Chinese financing in Russia, destined for the Belt and Road Initiative, is interrupted. The joint construction project of a super transport plane is suspended. The Chinese limit collaboration with Moscow to the energy market to avoid conflicts with Western sanctions.

Moscow () – An award ceremony was held in Beijing for the authors of creative works within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the global infrastructure plan promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping. However, there was no mention of the program’s abrupt halt due to the war in Ukraine, which led to the suspension of all Chinese funding plans in Russia for its contribution to the new Silk Road.

According to data from the Shanghai researchers, in the first half of 2022, no Belt and Road projects were implemented in Russia. The Chinese want to avoid the risk of Western sanctions at all costs. Although the project had been in place since 2017, the joint construction of a super transport plane was also not completed. The few ongoing deals between Russians and Chinese are outside the scheme promoted by Xi.

After suspending investments in Russia, Beijing decided to intensify trade with the Middle East, as explained to Medusa Kristof Wan, director of the Center for Ecological Development at Fudan University in Shanghai. This means that the grandiose plans for infrastructure construction, which would allow Chinese products to reach Europe quickly and smoothly via Russia and Central Asia, will remain on paper, at least for now.

Today, both Russia and China must deal with intense pressure from the Western information system, and the Belt and Road is no exception. According to Wan, this is a temporary phenomenon, despite the fact that the conflict in Ukraine is dragging on.

At the moment, Moscow and Beijing are focused on energy supply. China depends on Russian oil for 15% and gas for 8%. The two sides signed new industrial agreements shortly before the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

As for the new super passenger plane CR-929, which was to be built together with the Russians, it will most likely be finished by the Chinese together with Boeing and Airbus, since it will be used mainly on routes to Europe. and the United States. Still, for the Russians, this amounts to waving a white flag at Westerners.

A source quoted by a Hong Kong newspaper claims that China tries to exclude Russia from profits from the Chinese market to share it with other international partners, and it is an important part of business.

According to the director of the Institute for Asia and Africa at the University of Mgu, Aleksej Maslov, “Western media miscalculate the scope of Chinese investments. In fact, they have not been reduced to zero with Russia, even though it does not It’s part of the Belt and Road, officially. We only have bilateral projects, and there are still very operational areas, especially in the Far East.”

China continues to buy coal in Jacuzia and Kuzbass, but decreases cooperation in some fields where it can benefit from other directions. In aeronautics and other strategic sectors, the Chinese fear above all the inability of the Russians to guard technological secrets, and for this reason they blow up the agreements.

Beijing does not want to give advantages to its adversaries, it exploits its friends according to its convenience, it keeps its doors open even where barriers are created, as in Ukraine. Only time will tell how the international market will be restructured.