China has outlined steps to increase energy cooperation with Russia despite discussions in the United States about possible new sanctions against Beijing over the war in Ukraine.
Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang told the Sixth China-Russia Energy Business Forum in Moscow on Tuesday that China would seek to “solidly advance cooperation in energy trade and investment” with its top crude oil supplier.
Ding had proposed putting “large scale” energy projects in motion, working together on hydrogen power and cooperating further along the energy “supply chain”, China’s State Council said on Wednesday.
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Cooperation should go deeper in “promising areas”, such as renewable energy and carbon markets, Ding said.
The vice-premier suggested stronger “integrated cooperation” in upstream, midstream and downstream energy supply chains with upgrades to related cross-border infrastructure.
He also floated the idea of using “multilateral platforms” to create a “fair, balanced and inclusive” global system of governing energy.
“At the new historical starting point, China stands ready to work with Russia to continuously push forward the mutually beneficial cooperation in the energy sector, safeguard the steadiness and resilience of the energy industrial chain and supply chain, so as to contribute to a more robust, green and healthy development of global energy industry,” President Xi Jinping said in a letter to the energy forum, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
China and Russia are also engaged in the “solid development” of oil pipelines, China’s Ministry of Commerce director of Eurasian affairs Liu Xuesong said in May.
China’s pitch for closer cooperation comes as the US government mulls more sanctions against the world’s second-largest economy over its ties with Russia.
Senior US officials warned on Friday that China was going in the “wrong direction” by aiding Moscow, and would likely face more sanctions if it did not reconsider its relations.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan forecast additional sanctions over the coming weeks.
“Xi’s message to the China-Russia energy forum is a clear indication that China-Russia energy cooperation will expand and deepen, regardless of what the United States will do,” said Zhu Zhiqun, a political-science professor at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
“It is expected that Russia and China will boost their cooperation since both are [already] being sanctioned by the United States, and US and Chinese economies have been decoupled in certain areas, especially hi-tech and energy.”
Washington and its allies have exacted a series of blanket economic sanctions against Russia since the war in Ukraine started in 2022.
China officially takes a neutral stance on the war, while continuing to do brisk business with Russia.
The US is separately involved in tech and trade disputes with China, with higher import tariffs and a growing list of Chinese entities barred from doing business with American firms.
More cooperation between Russia and China would be especially possible in green energy development though with a “limited upside”, as China prefers self-sufficiency, said Xu Tianchen, senior economist with the Economist Intelligence Unit.
“China treads carefully on its energy security by avoiding depending on any single country excessively,” Xu said.
China imported about 19 per cent – 107 million metric tonnes (2.5 billion barrels) – of its crude oil from Russia last year, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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