Russian-Chinese “borders” of security. What does the Beijing’s message of V.V. Putin and Xi Jinping mean?

Abstract

The signing on February 4, 2022 in Beijing of a joint Russian-Chinese statement "On international relations entering a new era and global sustainable development" and a block of bilateral trade, economic and energy agreements means a qualitative expansion of the scope of the strategic partnership between the two countries. Russia and China politically position themselves not only as a global and regional center of power and security, but also as powers that offer the world the development of common human values and concepts - democracy, indivisible security, openness and equality, oppose the politicization of sports, for the expansion of anti-pandemic measures to combat the common evil of COVID-19. China supported the proposals put forward by Russia on its security guarantees in Europe, which helps to further form a common strategic space of Eurasian security from the western part of the Pacific Ocean to the Eastern European conditional line "Black Sea - Belarus". There is no need to reformat the Russian-Chinese strategic partnership into a military alliance in modern conditions. The economic block of cooperation is based on systemic and mutually beneficial energy cooperation, which is implemented in the increase in successful gas contracts, including transactions for the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline gas, oil projects and sales, the construction of new power units by Russia at Chinese nuclear power plants (NPPs), and the expansion of supplies coal, etc. In the context of a significant increase in the volume of Russian-Chinese trade in 2021 by a third compared to 2020, the expansion of the practice of settlements in national currencies (ruble - yuan), bypassing the dollar, acquires additional importance. In the face of American threats to shut down the SWIFT international payment system, it is relevant to create an independent Russian-Chinese payment system for transactions that provides not only energy transactions, but also the entire range of bilateral trade, economic and interbank transactions. The formation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership involves a wide range of trade, economic, investment, transport and institutional measures to deepen Eurasian cooperation. The key component in this area is to increase the efficiency of the process of interface between the projects of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Chinese initiative "One Belt and One Road", the implementation of joint mutually beneficial infrastructure projects.