Russia, China to develop strategic energy alliance

While the West is busy building barriers and breaking down trust, the East is developing out trade alliances. Discussions took place at the “Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era” international conference in Beijing. Estimates indicated that Russia-China trade is about to hit $100 billion, and is expected to double that figure by 2020.

Sputnik reports:

BEIJING (Sputnik) – Russia and China are moving forward to the formation of a strategic energy alliance that will benefit global energy security, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said on Tuesday.

“A very important element of our [Russia-China] partnership is the cooperation in the energy sphere and actually we can say that our countries are moving toward the formation of the strategic energy alliance, designed, among other things, to contribute to the strengthening global energy security,” Morgulov said at the opening ceremony of the “Russia and China: Cooperation in a New Era” international conference.

The conference takes part in the Chinese capital for the fourth time and will wrap up on Wednesday.

Morgulovalso said that it is possible to bring the Russia-China trade to the level of $200 billion by 2020 as the heads of state have aimed earlier.

“China, as you know, have solidified itself as our leading trade and economic partner and I think that the implementation of the goal of bringing the bilateral trade by 2020 to the level of $200 billion, is quite feasible,” Morgulov said.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the annual trade between Moscow and Beijing will soon reach $100 billion. At the moment, the bilateral trade stands at $86 billion, according to the president.

Meanwhile, the US is levying $50 worth of tariffs on China and engaging in threatening postures against each other over the Parcel islands, with the US recently making veiled threats by referencing their history of ‘taking down’ islands in the Western Pacific. The US is further damaging its economic ties by levying tariffs on its other trade partners within Europe and NAFTA through metals tariffs on aluminum and steel.