President Xi Jinping of China finally granted his Russian counterpart a long-awaited gas supply contract yesterday, ending a decade of negotiations during which China’s rapid economic growth tilted the bilateral balance of power in Beijing’s favour.
Under the terms of the $400bn agreement, Gazprom will supply China National Petroleum Corp with 38bn cubic metres of natural gas a year over a 30-year period. For Vladimir Putin, the deal offers an opportunity to reduce Russia’s reliance on European customers aggrieved by Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and destablisation of eastern Ukraine.
“At least symbolically, [the Russians] have shown that they can find enough common ground with China to send this powerful signal,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, a Moscow think-tank.