Energy ‘driving force’ behind Russia-China ties, Putin tells Xi

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to deepen their “comprehensive strategic coordination,” with energy emerging as a key focus of talks held in Beijing.

“The driving force behind economic cooperation is Russian-Chinese collaboration in the energy sector,” Putin said in a joint statement.

This comes at a time when China’s dependence on Russian crude has become especially pronounced as the war in West Asia has restricted ship movements via the Strait of Hormuz for over two months now. China is not only the world’s top crude importer, but it is also the top buyer of Russian oil and gas as well.
Putin said that Russia remained a “reliable supplier” of energy resources while China was a “responsible consumer”. China is the world’s largest crude oil importer and the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas supplies.

The Kremlin earlier said energy projects, including the proposed Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, were among the issues discussed. While no major breakthrough on the long-delayed pipeline was announced, the two sides signed around 20 agreements and reaffirmed what they described as an “all-weather” partnership. Another 20 agreements are expected to be signed between the two countries separately.

In their joint statement, Beijing and Moscow said “the global situation is becoming more complex” and warned that the world faced “new risks and challenges” alongside the danger of a return to the “law of the jungle”.

The statement also criticised attempts by some countries to “unilaterally manage global affairs” and impose their interests on others, in the spirit of the colonial era”.

They did not specify which country. However, the sharply worded statement came days after US President Donald Trump visited China, though the Trump-Xi meeting did not produce a joint statement.

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