Status: 05/30/2022 5:02 p.m
Beijing and Moscow are moving ever closer together economically. The trading volume has recently expanded significantly. However, it is an unequal partnership.
According to a recent study, China and Russia have come much closer as trading partners in recent years. As reported by the German Economic Institute (IW), the Chinese foreign trade volume with Russia has increased by almost 75 percent since 2017 to almost 147 billion euros last year. Russian exports to China amounted to 46.5 billion euros according to the latest figures from 2020.
While China exported clothing, electrical appliances and machines in particular, Russian energy was increasingly in demand in the country. Between 2010 and 2020, Russia’s share of China’s coal, oil and gas imports more than doubled.
An unequal partnership
On the sidelines of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, the two countries announced that they would increase bilateral trade to $250 billion by 2024. However, the partnership is unequal, explains study author Sonja Beer.
Business with China accounted for around 18 percent of all Russian foreign trade in 2020. “This makes China by far the most important trading partner for Russia.” Conversely, Moscow is not even one of China’s ten most important trading partners. In 2021, only 2.4 percent of Chinese trade volume will be accounted for by Russia.
However, Russia is in a strong position as an energy supplier. According to the study, Russia is China’s second-biggest oil and coal supplier and third-biggest gas supplier.
“Difficult balancing act” for China
With the partnership, China is embarking on a “difficult balancing act,” according to IW economist Beer. “On the one hand, Russia is an important ally, on the other hand, Beijing doesn’t want to offend the West by siding with Russia.” It is still unclear how long China can keep up this “rocking course”.