Interactions between Russia and China at the 2019 St. Petersburg Forum continued the atmosphere of cooperation, economic integration, and and coordination on high technology development that was established during the high level talks between Chairman Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin on 5 June. Most of the decisions of substance came out of this high level meeting, however, with no major decisions being announced during the Forum itself.
In his keynote address,[1] President Putin criticized US economic behavior, particularly the implementation of tariffs and sanctions, and claimed that these actions went against the interests of economic development and cooperation. Similarly, Putin accused the USA of abusing its privilege as the issuer of the primary global reserve currency and warned that this created risks to the global economy. Putin then went on to accuse of the USA of deliberating hoarding high technology as a way of preventing developing countries from catching up with the West, citing Huawei as an example of the USA unfairly punishing foreign companies. In contrast to this US protectionism, President Putin argued that other states should focus on mutually beneficial economic cooperation and development, particularly by upholding WTO rules.
Chairman Xi confirmed China’s commitment to defending globalization and the existing system of multilateral trading organizations.[2] Xi said that China would deepen economic cooperation with Russia, particularly in the field of high technology and 5G communications. This renewed economic cooperation will be expressed by coordinating the One-Belt-One-Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
The major agreements between Russia and China, all announced following the high level talks on 5 June, focus on increasing trade and enhancing economic cooperation, particularly in the fields of energy and high technology. Russia and China aim to increase bilateral trade to $200 billion USD per annum, up from its current level of $108 billion.[3] There are specific deals for Huawei to partner with MTS to develop a 5G network in Russia, for Russian firms to expand the Xudabao nuclear power plant in Liaoning, to increase Russian soybean exports to China, for Novatek, Sinopec, and Gazprombank to cooperate in selling Russian natural gas in China, for CNPC and CNOOC to invest in Russian efforts to extract natural gas in Arctic, and for the China Investment Corporation and the Russian Direct Investment Fund to create a joint $1 billion fund for researching new technologies.[4]
Russian-Chinese interactions during meetings of the Forum focused on flushing out technical details of this cooperation. This was particularly true for the 2nd Russian Chinese Energy Business Forum, which focused on technical aspects of the energy sector.[5] The less technical Russian Chinese events at the Forum restricted themselves to applauding the economic potential of stronger cooperation between China, Russia, and the EAEU.[6]
— Eunice Noh, July 2019
[1] Vladimir Putin, “Plenary Session,” (speech, St. Petersburg, June 7 2019), St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75483/
[2] Xi Jinping, “Plenary Session,” (speech, St. Petersburg, June 7 2019), St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75483/
[3] Zhenhua Lu, “Russia and China sign deals worth US$20 billion as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s growing friendship bears fruit,” South China Morning Post, 6 Jun 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3013483/russia-and-china-sign-deals-worth-us20bn-xi-jinping-and
[4] Zhenhua Lu, “Russia and China sign deals worth US$20 billion as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s growing friendship bears fruit,” South China Morning Post, 6 Jun 2019, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3013483/russia-and-china-sign-deals-worth-us20bn-xi-jinping-and
[5] “Opening Ceremony,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75476/; “Banking sphere. New opportunities for interaction in industrial and financial spheres in the context of the Russian Chinese integrated energy cooperation,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75477/; “Oil and gas industry. Regulatory activity and prospects for development of oil and gas industry in Russia and China,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75478/; “Electric energy. Regulatory activity and prospects for development of electric power markets in Russia and China,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75479/; “Oil and gas industry. New opportunities in upstream, midstream and downstream,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75480/; “Electric energy. Ne w opportunities for cooperation along the entire value chain in power sector,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/75481/.
[6] “SCO without borders: integration of transport infrastructure,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/68862/; “Innovation in BRICS countries: main directions and prospects for cooperation,” 6 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/68863/; “A strategy for coupling the Greater Eurasian Partnership with the Belt and Road Initiative: the search for solutions,” 5 June, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/partner-events/71394/; “Russia China,” 7 June 2019, https://forumspb.com/en/programme/68937/.
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