China and Russia are to build one of the largest ports in northeast Asia on Russia’s Sea of Japan coast, Chinese media reports.
It is the latest step by Beijing and Moscow to bring their economies closer, and diversify from Western influence.
The new seaport will be located in Russia’s Far East, just 18 kilometers away from the Chinese border and will be capable to handle up to 60 million tons of cargo a year, RT quoted China’s state-run People’s Daily Online as reporting.
The deal between the two countries was signed at May’s Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Shanghai, the report said.
Chinese booming domestic consumption makes the country search for ways to diversify its sources of energy. Russia, in turn, is seeking to refocus its trade towards Asia from western markets amid the tit-for-tat sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.
In August the two countries agreed to set up a special logistics center which will allow to sell fruit and vegetables directly to Russia, which is expected to offset any negative effect of the Russian food embargo.
On September 1 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli have launched the construction of the first part of Gazprom’s ‘Power of Siberia’ pipeline.
The construction follows a historical gas deal signed in May which will provide the world’s fastest growing economy with 4 trillion cubic meters of natural gas it needs to keep pace for the next 30 years.
Russia is sorely lagging behind in ASEAN, the Association of South East Asian Nations.
If Russia has to turn its focus on Asia, as Russian leaders have repeatedly stated since the Ukraine crisis, then Russia needs to engage with ASEAN rather proactively and not be content with just engaging the Big Three of Asia – China, Japan and India.
India has already made deep forays into ASEAN. Moscow needs to draw from the Indian diplomatic balance sheet in ASEAN to enlarge its strategic footprints in the region and in the Asian sub-continent. The Russians simply have to ask India to give a helping hand and the Indians will be very happy to oblige.
