Russian President Vladimir Putin says trade turnover between Russia and China will likely reach $100 billion this year based on the equally impressive bilateral trade performance from 2017.
Putin announced his estimates during a meeting with Yang Jiechi, the Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China. The Russian president said last year bilateral trade amounted to as much as $87 billion. The strong trade revenues between the two countries were carried over in the first half of this year alone, sustaining an increase of 50 percent.
President Putin said the relations between Russia and China is improving in accordance with the plans he formulated with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their previous meetings together. He then proceeded by telling that Russia is looking forward to President Xi's meeting in September.
Yang, in return, acknowledged the growing bilateral trade and economic ties between the two nations, agreeing that turnover would definitely reach $100 billion. The director also confirmed the attendance of the Chinese president for the coming Eastern Economic Forum next month, adding that it will be a significant milestone for China and Russia in terms of their foreign relations.
The Russian president and the Chinese president had already met 26 times in the past and their geopolitical relationship is in its strongest since 1979 when Russia was still the Soviet Union. Political analysts believed that the two countries are rising together to thwart a common enemy: the United States. Together with Iran, Russia and China are making their influence felt with their interventions in Syria and North Korea.
Stephen Nagy, a senior associate professor from Tokyo's International Christina University, described to ABC News the relationship between China and Russia as something akin to a "marriage of convenience." Nagy explained that by strengthening its bilateral relations with Russia, and the personal relationship between Xi and Putin, China is proving to the United States that it has an option, one that is more powerful. Nagy noted that the two nations are compatible in terms of both believed in authoritarianism.
What is highly notable about their relationship is that both parties agreed to joint military exercises conducted from the Sea of Japan to the Mediterranean. This is an important turning point according to Nagy as Russia was hesitant to sell its most advanced military equipment to China decades ago. This stance, however, has completely changed at present.
ABC News pointed out that the United States should be cautious with the growing affinity between Russia and China. In recollection, Washington was able to confront the former Soviet Union with the help of China. Now, the world waits to see what a partnership between Russia and China could bring to the United States.
