By Vestnik Kavkaza
Not long ago China published the white book The Military Strategy of China. It states that Beijing will comprehensively develop foreign military ties; it will deepen exchanges and cooperation with the Russian Army within the framework of bilateral relations, wide-scale partnership, and strategic cooperation; it will establish a variable and stable mechanism for promotion of further development of inter-military relations between the two countries.
Speaking about other directions of cooperation, Andrey Ostrovsky, Deputy Director of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies, says that cooperation between Russia and China becomes topical in terms of the aggravation of relations with the Western countries: “We need to develop it today and now. Earlier, oil and gas supplies were carried out to the Western countries. After building the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline last year, we are to supply thirty million tons.”
A year ago, on May 21st 2014, Gazprom and the Chinese company CNPC signed a contract on supplies of 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually over 30 years to China. The general cost of the gas supplies to China will be $400 billion. It is the largest contract for Gazprom. Russia and China also signed a memorandum on mutual understanding in the sphere of gas supplies through the Eastern Route.
However, according to Ostrovsky, at the moment Russia is not delivering gas to China. “China produces one hundred and twenty billion cubic meters of gas. Annual production in 2014 was two times bigger. With oil they have the same results. China produces two hundred and five million annually, China's consumption is about five hundred. The question of oil prices also arose. The Russian budget seriously depends on high oil prices. So we need to look to China. If China buys the oil, then the prices will stay the same. Since 1995 the global market and world oil market prices have been determined by China’s need for oil,” the expert believes.
Speaking about skeptics who think that China could occupy Russian territories, Ostrovsky said: “We have another fundamental migration issue. Some people say: "Here, the Chinese will invade Russia..." Many years have passed. According to statistics, 250-300 thousand Chinese migrants were in our country at the beginning of 2015. As for temporary migration, about one million visit. But they are not one-off visits. For example, crews of ships, crews of trains, they also visit Russia a few times a year. And our crews also cross the Chinese border. Moreover, if we look at the border with the Far Eastern province of Heilongjiang, and draw our attention to internal migration, will we find out that they are emigrating? Heilongjiang province is now in thirty-first place out of all the Chinese provinces in respect of growth of gross domestic product. There's a huge employment problem. They migrate to Shandong, not to Russia. I asked a Chinese, "Why don’t you migrate to Russia?" "The climate is too cold in Russia," he answered.
Touching on preservation of the historical memory in China, Ostrovsky stated: “In China, all the graves are in perfect condition. I was at the cemetery in Wuhan. A concert was organized yesterday in the Theater of the Russian Army. The performance was dedicated to Russian-Chinese relations, and the help of Soviet volunteers during the war with Japan. Monuments dedicated to pilots are situated there. That is a completely different attitude. When somebody asks me, "What direction is more advantageous: the West or the East?" I answer that not everything is measured by money.”
