OilPrice: China is using an infrastructure megaproject to subjugate part of the Russian Federation

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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.
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  1. -1
    12 March 2023 11: 27
    building a railroad between China and the resource-rich Sakha Republic to subjugate part of the Russian Federation will not be easy and will not happen overnight.

    Railway from the Trans-Siberian to Bestyakh already built.
    Bestyakh across from Yakutsk across the Lena.


    the bridge across the Lena - yes, the preparatory work has just begun.
    There are extension options as well.
    Additionally, a railway is being built to chumikan (the new port of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk).
    1. -1
      12 March 2023 13: 32
      Quote from Nelton.
      The railway from the Trans-Siberian to Bestyakh has already been built.

      And it’s probably worth clarifying - the Russian Federation was built independently, without the Chinese.
    2. +3
      13 March 2023 02: 51
      And these hacks don’t care, the article was written for other purposes - to catch up with the horror of the Russians that the Chinese have captured everything. In the light of recent events, fascists from all over the world have a stake in their ass because of how Russia interacts with China, India, etc.,
  2. -6
    12 March 2023 11: 47
    This government will sell anything, to anyone...
    1. 0
      12 March 2023 12: 55
      This one is what?

      OilPrice analysts believe

      Under "this power" the territories of Russia have increased!
      1. 0
        12 March 2023 13: 10
        And it will increase even further, to the Odessa, Nikolaev and Kharkov regions.
      2. +3
        12 March 2023 18: 04
        Are you talking about Medvedev's gifts to the Norwegians in the amount of 4 Crimea? or unrecognized by the international community, (including a member of the union state of Belarus) joining Russia, LDNR, Crimea and not yet fully recaptured Kherson and Zaporozhye? So for them, a lot of blood will be shed by the people, and not by Putin, Mishustin and members of their clan.
  3. -1
    12 March 2023 13: 25
    What else can the Russian Federation offer to China, Japan, South Korea and other partners from the EU, the Nemetsk region in the first place, with their level of economic development and industrial potential besides natural resources, long-term lease, joint use of its territory, joint ventures and projects?
    China is killing a few rabbits with a single agreement - paving the way for the resources it needs, loading its factories with orders, creating jobs, carrying out a creeping expansion of population and culture, and getting paid for it all.
    And what does the Russian Federation get? Income from rent, improves the transport network, employment of the local population in unskilled jobs, good relations with the colonialists.
    1. 0
      12 March 2023 13: 39
      Quote: Jacques Sekavar
      besides natural resources, long-term leases, land sharing, joint ventures and projects?

      First of all - semi-finished products instead of bare raw materials.
      Metals instead of ore, plywood instead of round timber, processed gas + polymers instead of raw gas, chicken instead of grain, etc.
      It worked better with Europe, it is more difficult for China to push through any products, but the same is real.
      1. 0
        13 March 2023 12: 28
        It is necessary to look at Rosstat data and customs statistics, but there is no desire. Even before the start of the war, when a golden rain poured on the Russian Federation, V.V. Putin said that oil and gas revenues accounted for about 30% of the budget. Plus other commodities - wood, ore, coal and so on. Plus, the same semi-finished products that are not finished products for anyone - Usmanovsky Metallinvest is almost a monopolist of semi-finished products for the electrometallurgy of the West, and they don’t make anything from crude oil, the same polymers, plastics, automotive oils and sell the Russian Federation with high added value. Also with plywood, the 44th group - timber, i.e. raw materials, and many others.
        Rosselkhoz, Rosatom, the military-industrial complex really sell the finished product on a turnkey basis, but their share is inferior to the raw materials industries and, moreover, are subject to restrictions, and sanctions and war reduce export potential
        1. -1
          13 March 2023 13: 48
          Quote: Jacques Sekavar
          the same semi-finished products that you like are not finished products

          added value already appears in them, as in the same plywood.
          A plywood cube and a roundwood cube differ in price by several times.

          Switching to the supply of plywood is still much easier than setting up the production of 146% localized industrial robots that are superior (well, at least not much inferior) in terms of price / quality to world analogues.
          Moreover, the supply of plywood / chipboard, etc. in the EU were fully established, i.e. There is a product and capacity, we need to develop other markets.

          Rosatom, the military-industrial complex really sell the finished product on a turnkey basis

          There, even until 2022, there were many issues with the payment of the delivered ...

          Quote: Jacques Sekavar
          It is necessary to look at Rosstat data and customs statistics, but there is no desire.

          But this is in vain ...
          Dry statistics and production news from industry feeds give a much more adequate picture of the world than analytical articles like this one.
          We are discussing a frank stuffing here, how China will colonize us if it builds a railway, which in reality has already been built without China.
  4. -2
    12 March 2023 23: 43
    The richest country with the poorest population, alas (((The rich (and those who are at the trough) are getting richer, and the majority of the people are getting poorer ... Yesterday, the utility bill came, the cost for February was doubled, and from March another increase in tariffs. Contents And we supply everyone and everything, except for the population of the country within the old borders. And we are destined for the fate of 'eternal getting up from our knees'... It's disgusting!! We're tired of surviving! I won’t take it), the current Xi is also ready to kiss, therefore he allows Siberia to be plundered.
  5. -1
    13 March 2023 14: 01
    be careful with such articles. all these articles show the ''liberal Russian opposition'' ( CIA MI6 ) to propagate among the Russian people the idea that the Chinese have bought everything and that Russia is on its knees against China