President Putin Contributes to People’s Daily, on How Economic Cooperation with China Is a Priority

March 20, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—“Our priorities include trade and economic partnership. In 2022, our bilateral trade, which had already been considerable by the time, doubled to reach $185 billion. This is a new record. What is more, we have every reason to believe that the $200 billion target, which was set by President Xi Jinping and myself, will be exceeded as early as this year instead of 2024,” Putin wrote in an op-ed for People’s Daily, headlined “Russia and China: A Future-Bound Partnership.” The complete article is available in English and Russian on the Kremlin website.

“It is noteworthy that the share of settlements in national currencies in our mutual trade is growing, further strengthening the sovereignty of our relations,” Putin said, adding that Moscow and Beijing are successfully implementing joint plans and programs.

“It will be no exaggeration to say that the Power of Siberia Russian-Chinese gas pipeline has become the ‘deal of the century’ for its scale. The supplies of Russian oil and coal have increased significantly. Our specialists are involved in building new nuclear power units in China, while Chinese companies actively engage in LNG projects; our industrial and agricultural cooperation is growing stronger. Together we explore outer space and develop new technologies,”

Putin said.

Moscow and Beijing “actively promote democratic multilateral structures such as the SCO and BRICS, which become more and more authoritative and influential and attract new partners and friends.... The work aimed at coordinating the development of the Eurasian Economic Union with the One Belt, One Road Initiative also goes in this vein.”

Putin gave his assessment of the geopolitical ambitions of the “West”: “Sticking more stubbornly than ever to its obsolete dogmata and vanishing dominance, the ‘Collective West’ is gambling on the fates of entire states and peoples. The U.S.’s policy of simultaneously deterring Russia and China, as well as all those who do not bend to the American dictation, is getting ever more fierce and aggressive. The international security and cooperation architecture is being dismantled. Russia has been labeled an ‘immediate threat’ and China a ‘strategic competitor.’ ”