Moscow or Beijing: who is more dependent

6

After Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to Moscow, a number of media outlets, especially Western ones, began to publish reports about Russia's rapidly growing dependence on China. Naturally, the main goal of such materials is to create an image of a “helpless” Russian Federation, which, due to sanctions, is no longer able to independently maintain its the economy afloat.

At the same time, if you soberly and impartially assess the situation, it becomes clear that Beijing also has a dependence on Moscow. Moreover, it is probably even stronger than ours.



Let's start with the banal. The Chinese economy has been heavily dependent on Russian energy resources before. However, during its recovery from the pandemic, the need for raw materials only increased.

As a result, in January of this year, Russia has already become the leader among exporters supplying gas to China.

However, our trade with China is not limited to energy resources alone. Our polymers, lumber, fertilizers, agricultural products and other goods that the West has refused are in great demand in China.

Not surprisingly, today Russia's trade with China has already reached $185 billion and is showing a trend towards further growth.

Further more. An extremely delicate issue for China is logistics. If the United States and its allies, which are actively creating various military blocs like AUKUS, set up a "sea blockade" of the Celestial Empire, then Russia will remain the only strategic source of resources for China.

By the way, Beijing also depends on Moscow militarily. Although the PRC has surpassed us in some industries, the Chinese military-industrial complex has vulnerabilities, such as nuclear submarines and hypersonic missiles. Not to mention nuclear weapons.

Finally, China cannot do without Russia and political arena. After all, Moscow today is the only ally of the PRC among the great powers.

Probably, precisely because Beijing depends on Moscow much more, it was Xi Jinping, and not Vladimir Putin, who went to visit his ally.

6 comments
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  1. Sergey Latyshev
    Sergey Latyshev
    +3
    27 March 2023 17: 02
    source of resources for China

    That says it all.
    And so, China trades heavily even with the USA. Until recently, the largest.
    And they apparently resell our resources.
  2. Vox Populi
    Vox Populi
    +1
    28 March 2023 18: 48
    At the same time, if you soberly and impartially assess the situation, it becomes clear that Beijing also has a dependence on Moscow. Moreover, it is probably even stronger than ours.

    If the situation is assessed soberly and not biased, this is an attempt to wishful thinking ...
  3. Eldar Yunusov
    Eldar Yunusov
    0
    29 March 2023 10: 38
    In economic terms, the PRC is a much more dependent country, not so much on Russia, but on the US and the EU. Imagine a huge assembly plant with a billion people, providing its workers with the products of their labor sold to these countries. The United States (and still the EU) will announce economic sanctions and stop buying these products and supplying components for production in Chinese plants and factories. How long will a billion Chinese survive hunger? The PRC does not have enough internal resources to provide its population with food, and even Russia will not be able to feed it. This is the main reason for Chinese caution and balance in foreign policy. The United States, by the way, like Russia, is one of the few self-sufficient countries in the world capable of providing its population with everything necessary.
  4. trampoline instructor
    trampoline instructor
    -1
    30 March 2023 23: 20
    Probably, precisely because Beijing depends on Moscow much more, it was Xi Jinping, and not Vladimir Putin, who went to visit his ally.

    So what? Putin has made 10 visits to Beijing and Xi has been to Russia 9 times.
    It is difficult to judge the degree of dependence: only flowery general phrases are said about the results of the last visit.
  5. zenion
    zenion
    0
    31 March 2023 16: 18
    Russia can easily do with China, as it did with Ukraine, if China wants to. If China does not want to, then the territory to the Urals will not be given to the Americans from the Pacific Ocean to the Ural Mountains from top to bottom.
  6. Seraphim_2
    Seraphim_2
    0
    April 1 2023 14: 08
    Little addition. Today, due to the fact that our liberal government has been oriented to the West for the last 20 years, it has not bothered to take care of transport corridors to the Middle Kingdom, and as a result, transit has already stopped. There are already huge traffic jams at the border. Further growth in trade turnover is impossible.