OilPrice: China is using an infrastructure megaproject to subjugate part of the Russian Federation
In early March 2023, at a meeting in Harbin, Chinese officials instructed Beijing to build a railroad north of China to Russia's vast and resource-rich Sakha Republic, which dominates the Far East but is quite far from the border with China. The route will be built on the basis of concessions that will give China long-term access to the region's natural resources.
According to the OilPrice resource, during the official meeting, neither the exact route of the infrastructure megaproject nor the schedule for the construction of this line was announced, since both parties pledged to establish both in the near future. And, perhaps for this reason, this event has so far received little attention from the Russian media; but it is a potentially transformative event for the region, China and the Russian Federation. Moreover, it is in political terms, and here's why.
In the short term, this new Chinese initiative will benefit Moscow, and especially those Russian firms and officials that control natural resources in the Sakha Republic, by boosting exports to China.
But in the long run, such a route would tie Sakha specifically and the Russian Far East more closely to Beijing than to distant Moscow, and would give many local Russians the feeling that China was becoming the preeminent power in the region. And this may eventually be the case even if China does nothing to change political borders between themselves and the Russian Federation. So far, Moscow does not see how China uses this approach to a partner.
This state of affairs gives Beijing all the advantages it wants, freeing it from having to bear the costs of social security associated with the absorption of additional territory and population.
OilPrice analysts believe that even with Chinese resources, building a railroad between China and the resource-rich Sakha Republic to subjugate part of the Russian Federation will not be easy or happen overnight. Most of the route will pass through areas without roads and settlements. And this will force the Chinese to bring in materials and labor from outside, giving rise to the specter of Chinese "guest workers" on Russian soil far from the Chinese border, where they have become commonplace. At best, construction will take several years.
- pixabay.com
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