Free Essay on the US/European Sanctions Against Russian Brought China and Russia Closer Together Economically

The sanctions made against Russia by the European countries and the United States are bringing the Chinese and Russia together economically. The two countries are now working on programs that will enable them to cooperate and managed to realize growth and ways of curbing the effects of the sanctions placed on them. Russia has become one of the largest trade partners to China, which is getting a significant amount of crude oil from Russia. Their economies are complementary, and they have engaged in various trade deals to counter the threats posed by the sanctions. Russia has become the largest seller of crude oil to Russia while significant activities in the country are being undertaken by Chinese companies. The Power of Siberia gas pipeline and Yamal liquefied natural gas project are some of the significant projects that have improved the economic ties between the two states. For a long time, Russia, and China had been in a border dispute, but the issue is resolved mainly due to the positive relationship between them.

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According to Are US tariffs pushing China and Russia together? The Chinese and Russian governments have close ties that will enable them to work together economically. Their desire to work is fueled by the sanctions placed by the United States and the European government against Russia. There are suggestions that the relationship is "Panda Diplomacy" and this derived from a recent visit of the Chinese president to Russia in 2019. The visits involved the unveiling of a giant panda at a Moscow Zoo, and this was a symbol to show growing ties between the two nations (Weir, 2019). The two states are seeking to have a common geopolitical front that will allow them to hedge their economies in the face of sanctions, escalating hostility and trade war with the United States.

Politically, Russia and China are two nations that are hostile towards each other, but the sanctions placed against Russia and the United States viewing China as one of the greatest trading partners have driven them to forge a partnership. Some of the Chinese products, such as Huawei are not supposed to sell in the United States market, and this has driven the hostility between these two economies (Farchy, & Mazneva, 2017). The sanctions against Russia has driven President Putin to settle the border issues with China, improving economic ties, and led to the establishment of a geopolitical playbook that tends to oppose the U.S. hegemony.

The bilateral trade between them is on the rise, and there are talks to merge the Belt and Road Initiative being built in China with Russia's Greater Eurasian Partnership plan. There exist plans for Power of Siberia gas pipeline receiving more than $400 billion (Weir, 2019). Plans are underway to make Russia one of the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the Asian states with the sale of soya beans and grains increasing tremendously. Russia and China are making plans to stop using the United States dollar in their transactions and rely on other currency forms.

According to Russia, China Lash out at U.S. Sanctions While Forging Closer Ties, the two countries are claiming that the United States is undermining the global trading system. The leaders of these two nations state that the move by the west is one of the significant factors that are triggering a growth in the economic ties between Moscow and Beijing. Russian Prime Minister in 2018 stated that the United States government was relying on these sanctions to have an advantage in the world trading process. China and Russia claim that the US and European states are relying on sanctions to settle political disputes. They state that unilateral approaches and protectionism cause problems in the multilateral trade system which is a critical component of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Some of the sanctions placed on Russia include the country's aggression on Ukraine. Additionally, the United States placed sanctions on Iran which are likely to hamper the Iran's 2015 nuclear agreement which Russian and China participated (RFE/RL, 2018). It is claimed that Russia was meddling in the United States elections and poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in England. The sanction made against Russia on intelligence and defense sectors were applied against China due to its involvement in the purchase of Russian military aircraft. The United States is engaging in trade wars with China on tariffs of the commodities that they are trading with each other (Foy, 2018). The issue has led to the growth of close ties between Russia and China with the Russian authorities relying more on their resources.

The Russians claims that it has to take steps that will enable it to withstand the united states sanctions and the move that it can take include turning to China to expand its operations instead of relying on western imports. Therefore, Russia has become of the greatest trading partner of the United States, especially in the energy sector. It was estimated that the trade between the two countries grew by more than 30% in 2017, hitting the $87 billion mark (RFE/RL, 2018).

According to Trump's Trade War Is Making Russia and China Comrades Again, the Russian and Chinese government have close ties that emanate from the European and United States government placing sanctions on the Russian regime. The United States president, Richard Nixon's had played s significant role in the U.S.-China realignment that had begun in the 1972 visit to Beijing (Champion, 2018). However, in the recent past, there has been a great geopolitical shift since the time of the Berlin Wall fall. These close ties have led to the United States sanctioning Russia and engaging in trade wars with China. Russia and China have managed to settle the border disputes that have remained for many years, and the reconfiguration of the superpowers is quite significant.

China has made tremendous investments in the country, and it is making energy purchases from Russia, and this makes it easy for Russia to offer resistance on economic pressure over its activities in Ukraine. According to the scholars from the National Bureau of Asian Research, there are suggestions that the United States should accommodate one of Russia or China to isolate the other and ensure that the economic ties between the two countries are broken and avoid what they termed as a two-front war.

The sanctions against Russia have made Russia become the largest single trade partner to China, and in 2015, it became the largest crude oil supplier to China. Chinese companies control around 30% of the Yamal liquefied natural gas project in Russia (Champion, 2018). The economies of the two nations are complementary with China labelled as the world's biggest manufacturer and Russia is a significant exporters of raw materials and energy in the world.

The nations are diversifying their economic and security processes to accommodate each other, and their strong economies make it possible to work together. There has been notable trends and changes in patterns on the way that the world politics and economic activities are happening, and they are mainly triggered by sanctions made by the United States and the European states against Russia and her allies (Liu, 2019). Iran and China have been some of the notable states that are directly affected by these sanctions, and they are working on building a strong economic block between them to counter the effects of the United States declarations.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the sanctions done by the European and American against Russia are triggering the emergency of strong economic ties between Russia and China. The trade wars that the United States has raised with China with tariffs being changed are even making matters worse. The United States is being blamed for altering the trade market to its advantage, and this has caused conflicts leading to the Huawei products getting blocked from selling in the U.S. market. Russia has become the largest seller of crude oil to China, and a significant number of major operations in Russia are undertaken by Chinese companies. The Yamal liquefied natural gas project and Siberia gas pipeline are some of the major projects undertaken between the two states. They have plans to stop using the American dollar in their transactions, and this is likely to have severe repercussions on the U.S. economy.

References

Champion, M. (2018). Trump's Trade War Is Making Russia and China Comrades Again. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-05/trump-s-trade-war-is-making-russia-and-china-comrades-again

Farchy, J & Mazneva, E. (2017). Russia Wins in Arctic After U.S. Fails to Kill Giant Gas Project. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-14/russia-dreams-big-as-u-s-fails-to-kill-27-billion-gas-project

Foy, H. (2018). Russia and China warn US on military sanctions. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/e03f8fbc-bd7d-11e8-94b2-17176fbf93f5

Liu, M. (2019). Xi Jinping Has Embraced Vladimir Putin-for Now. FP Insider. Retrieved from https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/03/xi-jinping-has-embraced-vladimir-putin-for-now/RFE/RL.

(2018). Russia, China Lash Out At U.S. Sanctions While Forging Closer Ties. Retrieved from https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-china-lash-out-us-sanctions-forging-closer-ties-wto-iran-deal-medvedev-li/29588872.html

Weir, F. (2019). Are US tariffs pushing China and Russia together? The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2019/0606/Are-US-tariffs-pushing-China-and-Russia-together