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Xi Jinping’s Visit to Russia Accents Ties in Face of Tensions with U.S.ImagePresident Xi Jinping of China during a welcoming ceremony in Moscow on Wednesday.CreditCreditShamil Zhumatov/Reuters
By Neil MacFarquhar
June 5, 2019阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版
MOSCOW — President Xi Jinping of China arrived in Moscow on Wednesday at the start of a high-profile three-day state visit that will include some panda diplomacy and underscore the strengthening Beijing-Moscow axis at a time when relations for both with Washington continue to fray.
The Kremlin released figures showing that trade between Russia and China grew almost 25 percent last year, reaching $108 billion — finally breaking the $100 billion milestone sought for years, even if partly based on higher oil prices.
After a day in Moscow, where Mr. Xi presented two pandas on loan to the Moscow Zoo, the Chinese president was scheduled to be the guest of honor at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russia’s main annual event to attract international investors.
Russian officials pointed to the 1,000-strong delegation that Mr. Xi is bringing to the forum as a sign of healthy relations at a time when the United States is officially boycotting the event.
Maksim S. Oreshkin, the minister of economic development, noted in an interview that Mr. Xi’s speech comes amid the United States-China trade war and will be his first significant appearance since the latest wave of tensions between Beijing and Washington over tariffs.
Trade relations between Moscow and China are booming, the minister noted.
“We see record-high volumes of trade with China, we see positive dynamics, joint projects and so on and so forth,” Mr. Oreshkin said.
The American ambassador, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., is boycotting the St. Petersburg Forum over the detention of Michael Calvey, a Moscow-based American investment banker who was arrested in February. That sent a chill through Western investors.
Mr. Calvey was involved in a business dispute with a Russian banker, who, not unusually for Russia, seems to have persuaded an ally in the security services to intervene. Another American, Paul Whelan, a tourist, has been held since late December on vague espionage charges. The sour mood is widespread — Mr. Oreshkin’s office barred an American reporter from the interview, saying that only Russian citizens were welcome.
Relations with China have improved markedly since 2014, when President Vladimir V. Putin declared that Russia would pivot toward Asia in the wake of Western economic sanctions and other efforts to isolate Russia prompted by its annexation of Crimea and destabilization of Ukraine.
In addition to trade ties, China and Russia support each other on a wide variety of foreign policy issues, including the Venezuela crisis, North Korea’s nuclear program and the Iran nuclear deal. Both tend to veto United Nations Security Council resolutions designed to pressure President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in the war there.
President Xi, who mentioned to the Russian news media that this will be his seventh visit to Russia, said the two countries were gradually expanding cooperation in energy, transportation, aviation, agriculture and space, among other fields.
“Economic cooperation and trade, as a key pillar of our relations, is crucial to the common development and revitalization of China and Russia,” Mr. Xi said.
An estimated 70 percent of Russian exports to China involve energy. The bulk of Chinese exports are machinery, especially oil field equipment denied to Russia by the West under sanctions.
Both sides have a keen interest in developing the Arctic, where Russia hopes Chinese money and demand will replace the West in developing oil and gas fields. Russia eventually expects that global warming will open up a competitive sea route to Asia through the Arctic, with China being a prime market.
“China brings money and demand, and Russia brings security and location with its position on the Arctic,” said Alexander Gabuev, the head of the Asia program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
Friendship with the Kremlin provides China with a stable backyard, while military ties are expanding as well. The two sides have participated in joint military exercises on land and at sea. And China, given its tense relations with its neighbors over the South China Sea, is an important possible market for Russian weapons, particularly the S-400 antiaircraft missile system and the SU-35 jet fighter.
The Kremlin has conceded that China’s Belt and Road initiative will overshadow its historical control over Central Asia, since Moscow cannot compete economically. But it hopes China will continue to accept a major Russian role in security for the region, once part of the Soviet Union. Russia and China share a common goal in hoping to exclude the United States.
If relations have come a long way since 1969, Russian public sentiment toward China has not quite matched the warmth expressed by the Kremlin.
While around 1.7 million Chinese tourists visited Russia last year, more than a million Russians signed a petition against a Chinese-backed water bottling plant on the shores of Lake Baikal, one of Russia’s most spectacular natural sights. Around 10 Chinese-financed hotels on the lake are scheduled for demolition.
Over all, however, China is taking on an increasingly important role in Russia’s economy, growing to 19 percent of the country’s exports last year, while Russia’s share of China’s exports has stayed flat, at roughly 2 to 3 percent.
Russia is already the junior partner in the relationship, and risks becoming even more dependent, Mr. Gabuev said.
“Russia is the needier partner — it needs new markets, sources of finance and sources of technology that it cannot get because of sanctions,” he said. “Over the long run, Russia is locking itself into a partnership where China has a better hand.”
Mr. Xi, in particular, and China, in general, are careful not to express such sentiments, repeatedly calling Russia a partner and lending support at diplomatically significant moments, as with the current visit.
Mr. Xi was among the few world leaders to attend the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, as well as the 2015 Victory Day parade in Red Square that marked the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Officially, Mr. Xi’s current visit is meant to commemorate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between what were once the two main Communist competitors. A special concert at the Bolshoi Theater will celebrate the anniversary.
Mainly, though, Russia is thrilled that Mr. Xi is showing up at the St. Petersburg investment forum with a large delegation when it is being shunned by the West.
“It allows them to present a middle finger to the U.S.: ‘We have China,’” Mr. Gabuev said.
Follow Neil MacFarquhar on Instagram: @nytmacfarquhar
Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Xi Visit Accentuates Growing Trade With Russia. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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