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The Great Game Changer: Belt and Road Intiative (BRI; OBOR)

Only if he owns a Burberry baseball cap with the price tag still attached. For some reason I don't think his wife would approve of him dressing that way. :woot:

ha ha ha , is that the style in Britain nowadays? :lol:

PS. I can so totally see @mike2000 sitting reading this --- sipping his cup of tea ... :lol:
 
Credit to Arzz of Reddit/Polandball

@mike2000

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Russia should stop Gas supply and all its loan payments of west till these economic sanctions will be lift off.
 
Great powers run multilateral diplomacy, engaging multiple actors with often unaligned interests simultaneously.

The public survey, however, reflects the reality that, if we really needed to propose a scale, China-Russia relations would achieve higher score in terms of strategic importance than any other bilateral relations China has -- because Russia is both a land and also maritime power.

China is not solely a territorial power anymore, hence, Russia does matter more. Japan matters today more than it was yesterday because China's Navy is growing stronger. As China's strategic horizon enlarges, so does the density of its engagements.

For now, Japan matters economically more as China and Japan are unable to achieve a certain strategic alignment. China and Russia are aligned strategically more deeply over the past several years, which trumps over the deep economic cooperation China has with Japan.

I does not mean Japan is less important or relationship with Japan is less meaningful. But, indeed, Russia means more in terms of China's vital national security interests.
 
The Russian economy complements the Chinese economy, whereas Japan is and will increasingly be a competitor. Moreover, it would be unpleasant to let relations with a land-based neighbor sour, especially one who shares such a long land-border. Both relations are important, given that these are the two other major powers of the North/East Asian region, but if we have to prioritize...

Agreed. And I just want to add that despite geostrategic constraints, I do believe that it will be inevetible to realize an integrated Northeast Asia.

TASS: World - For China relations with Russia more important than with Japan — Huanqiu Shibao daily
December 30, 9:02 UTC+3

As many as 1,515 respondents from seven Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Changsha participated in the Huanqiu Shibao sociological survey devoted to Chinese world vision


BEIJING, December 30. /TASS/. The Chinese believe that stronger relations between Beijing and Moscow presently became more important than the development of ties with Japan, findings of a sociological survey indicated, the Huanqiu Shibao daily reported on Tuesday.

As many as 1,515 respondents from seven Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Changsha participated in the Huanqiu Shibao sociological survey devoted to Chinese world vision.

According to sociological survey findings, 30.4% of respondents believe that relations between China and Russia are ranked second as to significance for the country after Chinese-US relations. Meanwhile, only 27.1% said about importance of bolstering relations between China and Japan — that is 11.5% lower than the opinion poll results in 2013.

The daily also noted that “disagreements on the Taiwan issue” and territorial disputes in the South China Sea hamper further development of Chinese-US relations.

Good read. If I may infer, I believe that Japanese and Chinese are culturally and racially more alike than the Russians. This does not even consider the massive economic relationship Japan has with China, which enjoys a bilateral trade that exceeds $340 Billion per annum. We Japanese may have some historical differences with the Chinese, whom we consider a fraternal civilization, but we are more alike to them, racially and culturally , than any other.

This is the truth.
 
New cold war: The side that has more friends win. Why? Because New Cold war will fight on heavily on economic front. Which side can influence more on the "world economy", which side will win. Abandoning Japan by any of both side is a strategically mistake because it just left vacuum for the other side to take.
 
New cold war: The side that has more friends win. Why? Because New Cold war will fight on heavily on economic front. Which side can influence more on the "world economy", which side will win. Abandoning Japan by any of both side is a strategically mistake because it just left vacuum for the other side to take.


We may be aligned with the United States, but this does not necessarily mean we won't enhance our bilateral relationship and various intergovernmental platforms with Beijing and Moscow. Northeast Asia has seen no war since the end of the Korean War and survived the Cold War, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. If the region can weather such a storm, I believe we can do much --- and thus our hope for continued equilibrium in this strategically vital region.
 
Both Russia and China ain't abandoning Japan, despite territorial disputes both major countries do trade with Japan. Nihonjin has often emphasized the huge trade between China and Japan. The strategic importance between China and Russia is a different matter and thus should be separated from economic viewpoint.
 
Eurasia has a lot more potential for growth, this century belongs to us. It is imperitive that our countries manage all disputes in perspective of our greater wealth, co-operating together. Granted in any relation there is no true balance. But still, beware that we do not fall into ploys to exploit these differences. But I believe our leaders & planners are wise enough to out manuver, if not, to avoid them.
 
Mutual aid may help support Russia through ruble crisis
By Li Jianmin


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The recent plunge of the Russian ruble came as a result of multiple combined factors. In practice, the ruble's value is correlated with the price of crude oil, making it a risky currency. The value of ruble is directly proportional to oil prices. As international oil prices have slumped since July, the ruble has witnessed an even steeper drop.

Besides, the ruble is a freely tradable currency and hence vulnerable to international venture capital. The ruble became the most volatile of the 41 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg in 2014.

The US winding down its quantitative easing policy (QE) since 2013 pushed up the US Dollar Index and prompted the slide of oil prices, hitting emerging markets.

This QE withdrawal has two effects. It drove down bulk commodity prices and prompted the reverse flow of capital from emerging markets to developed countries.

In the past one year and a half, 90 percent of emerging economies have been growing more slowly than previously. This may be a game between developed and emerging economies in a fresh round of economic cycle and Russia is only one of the targets hit.

Moreover, multiple rounds of sanctions imposed by the US and Europe on Russia due to the Ukraine crisis have created negative effects. They have severely shaken the confidence of investors and prompted an increasing tendency to avoid risks. The tremendous capital flight and sizable shrinkage in the stock market has accelerated currency deflation.

After the large-scale speculative sell-off of the ruble in foreign exchange markets, the Russian government was compelled to bailout, using its foreign exchange reserve. Its sovereign debt rating was downgraded, beginning a vicious cycle.

Russia's fundamental problems lie in its economic structure and growth mode. Its development pattern supported by the export of raw materials can no longer be sustained. The Russian economy entered a period of slow growth in 2013. But due to the worsening problems of its structures and the decline in external demand, there is limited room for policy maneuvers.

The ruble's value against the renminbi also fell sharply, which had an extensive impact on Chinese enterprises in Russia. There was a significant drop in the sale of Chinese auto companies and heavy losses for Chinese businesses exporting light textiles and home appliances to Russia. Those ongoing projects priced in dollars may face the possibility that the Russian side doesn't have enough foreign currency for payments.

So far the decline in oil prices hasn't hit rock bottom and the result of the ruble bailout has to be closely watched.

It's an acute question for decision-makers as to whether China should offer help if Russia faces financial difficulties. With regard to the broad vision and China's long-term development, China and Russia supporting each other will be normal for a long period.

Both sides have prioritized the development of bilateral relations as a strategic choice for their diplomacy and consider each other a supplier of important opportunities and an important partner.

China needs Russia's support and cooperation in advancing reform of the international system and global governance and implementing major strategies like the "One Belt and One Road" initiative. As emerging economies are faced with common challenges and opportunities currently, helping Russia is indeed helping ourselves.

China has to give a helping hand to Russia whenever needed, whether it's for political, moral, strategic and economic considerations.

It's necessary to follow the principle of achieving mutually beneficial, win-win results.

In addition, China can offer aid through multilateral mechanisms like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in various ways including loans, large project cooperation and investment in Russian infrastructure.

The author is a research fellow with the Institute of Russian, Eastern European, Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
 

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