Putin, Seeing Xi in Beijing, Looks for Expanding Oil and Natural Gas Exports to China While War Blocks Strait of Hormuz

Russia’s President Putin is matching President Trump’s two-day visit to Beijing with two days of meetings Monday and Tuesday with China’s President Xi Jinping. The visit may not be accompanied by the same pomp and circumstance that Mr. Xi bestowed on Mr. Trump but will buttress an alliance that confronts American interests from Ukraine to Korea.At the least, Mr. Xi should go home with new deals for sales of Russian oil and natural gas while Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, through which China, by far Russia’s leading trading partner, normally gets 40 percent of its oil. Russian oil and gas account for more than 25 percent of its exports.China’s propaganda machine made much of the “comprehensive strategic partnership” of both countries as a bulwark against American interests from Asia to the middle east and eastern Europe, but nothing eclipses the importance of Russian exports of oil and gas for China and Chinese funds for Russia’s economy, hard pressed by the war in Ukraine.Mr. Putin’s visit to China “will bring the energy sector and logistics to the forefront,” said the Russian news agency Tass. The agency quoted the director of Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Vasily Kashin, as calling the energy sector “the pillar of Russia-China relations, along with agriculture, the chemical industry and the metals industry.”“The current developments in the Persian Gulf area have certainly affected China’s decision-making in terms of energy and logistics,” said Tass. “Beijing is now increasingly interested in projects involving the Northern Sea Route and land transit through Russia.”The visit marks the first time that Mr. Putin has left Russia this year, but he has seen Mr. Xi about 25 times. In an interview put out by Tass before the trip, he called Mr. Xi his ”very good friend,” Russian-Chinese relations have soared to “a truly unprecedented level,” he said, while two-way trade “continues to grow.”Mr. Putin did not mention differences with America. Rather, he portrayed “the close strategic relationship” with China as playing “a major stabilizing role” while Russia sought only “peace and universal prosperity.”Those honeyed words masked Russia’s need for tightening the Russian-Chinese relationship 25 years after they signed a “treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation” and 30 years after the old Cold War partners formed “ the China–Russia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination.” Allies against America in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, Russia and China have also joined in blocking numerous American motions in the UN Security Council, many of them attempts at condemning violence in the Middle East.China’s state news agency, Xinhua, called those anniversaries “milestones” underscoring “the maturity and resilience of a relationship defined by mutual respect for each other’s core interests and major concerns as well as mutually beneficial cooperation.”The euphoria surrounding Mr. Putin’s visit, if nothing else, showed that China’s heart lies with Russia, not America, despite all the folderol put on for Mr. Trump.A final test of the difference between the visits will be the level of ecstasy of a joint communique that’s likely to emerge tomorrow from their talks. Tellingly, Messrs. Xi and Trump, did not issue a communique while Mr. Xi waits to see if Trump will sign off on a $12 billion aid package for Taiwan, which Mr. Xi warned could lead to “clashes and conflicts.”Mr. Putin undoubtedly will want to get a sense of what else Messrs. Xi and Trump talked about. Mr. Xi has avoided supporting the Russians with arms and ammunition for the Ukraine War, but China may be providing Russia with the technology and possibly components for producing drones. China, like Russia, also supports North Korea, a vital source of Russian supplies and troops.Both China and Russia staunchly denied Mr. Putin’s visit was timed to follow Mr. Trump’s visit to Beijing. Mr. Trump, they noted, had postponed his visit from March due to the Iran War.Russia placed “very serious expectations” in Mr. Putin’s visit, said the spokesman Dmitry Petrov, indicating the importance of the agreement that may emerge for expanding Russian oil and gas exports.

Putin, Seeing Xi in Beijing, Looks for Expanding Oil and Natural Gas Exports to China While War Blocks Strait of Hormuz

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