Vladimir Putin in push for stronger trade ties during visit to China's northeast

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Harbin in northeast China on Friday, pushing for more cooperation on trade and infrastructure in Russia's Far East - a key region in his "pivot to the East" strategy to counter economic pressure from the West.

It was the final stop on a two-day trip to neighbouring China that began in Beijing, where he met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday.

Their discussions included a proposal for trilateral talks with North Korea to give Chinese ships access to the Tumen River to transit to the Sea of Japan, or East Sea - a move that could improve transport links in the country's northeast as tensions rise with the US over the South China Sea.

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At the opening ceremony of the Russia-China Expo in Harbin - a city founded by Russians in 1898 - Putin tried to woo Chinese investors to the Far East, a resource-rich region adjacent to China's struggling northeastern rust belt that Beijing has spent years trying to revive.

"We can see a large potential for expanding ties between Russia's Far East and northeastern provinces of the People's Republic of China," Putin told Chinese officials and businesspeople at the ceremony.

Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang province, which shares a 3,045km (4,900-mile) border with Russia - or about 70 per cent of the boundaries between the two countries.

But construction of cross-border infrastructure has been slow, with the first railway bridge between the two sides opening as recently as 2021. There has been more progress as sanctions imposed by the West on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine started to bite, prompting Moscow to look to China to export more energy and raw materials.

In his speech, Putin also called for more efforts to upgrade border facilities to better facilitate cross-border trade between the two countries.

"First, we should bolster the dynamic growth trend in trade, utilising the untapped potential and expanding the range of commodities, trade in services and e-commerce," he said.

"It would be practical to upgrade cross-border infrastructure, increase the freight-handling capacity of checkpoints and create favourable conditions for the movement of cargo and people."

It comes after Moscow last year allowed Chinese ships to use the Russian port of Vladivostok - the largest in Russia's Far East - to ship domestic goods from the north to the south of China. The move marked the first time since China handed over Vladivostok to the Russian empire in 1860 that it has had access the port.

At the expo opening, Putin said Chinese businesses - from carmakers to aircraft manufacturers - were welcome to localise production in Russia.

"We are ready to provide investors from China with economic incentives, support and assistance," he said. "They will have access to Russia's unique technology base and highly qualified personnel."

Putin's stop in Harbin followed a day of talks in Beijing on Thursday, including a one-on-one meeting with Xi at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound.

In Harbin, Putin also laid flowers at a monument to fallen Soviet soldiers who fought for China against the Japanese during the second Sino-Japanese war, when Japan occupied parts of China. The Russian leader also visited the Church of the Intercession, the only Eastern Orthodox church still in use in Harbin.

He gave a speech and answered questions from Chinese and Russian students at the Harbin Institute of Technology - which was sanctioned by the US in May 2020 over alleged ties to China's military - calling for close educational and technological cooperation between the two countries.

Putin also told reporters that China and Russia would find a way to stop the US sanction threats against Chinese banks from disrupting bilateral trade.

China and Russia have increased the use of their own currencies, instead of US dollars, for trade since Russia invaded Ukraine - last year 80 per cent of Russia's trade with China was transacted in yuan and roubles.

But a report released last week by a Renmin University institute suggested some 80 per cent of payment settlements between the two countries had been suspended as of March because of sanctions from the West.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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