Chinese President Xi Jinping’s lavishly arranged visit to Moscow ended without a major outcome that the Kremlin had been waiting for for years.
Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin calling Xi Jinping a “dear friend” and toasting his health in Chinese, the Chinese delegation did not sign a new agreement on the purchase of Russian gas and the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline.
Putin has proposed a sixfold increase in pipeline gas shipments to China by 2030. But Beijing does not want to repeat the mistake of Europe and make the country dependent on Russian supplies, especially since many people are ready to sell gas – Qatar, the United States, Australia, Turkmenistan.
“China can wait indefinitely for Russia to make a more favorable offer. The PRC does not need more gas from Russia, especially after the economic stagnation caused by last year’s mass isolation,” believes Pat Otgeral, an analyst at the US Energy Policy Research Foundation.
Power of Siberia 2. China doesn’t want more gas from Putin
– The Power of Siberia 2 project, with a capacity of 50 billion m3 of gas per year, has been practically agreed upon in every respect – Putin argued on Tuesday. Russian business can meet the Chinese economy’s growing demand for energy, he said.
In 2022, Gazprom delivered 15.5 bcm of gas to China via Power of Siberia 1 (by 2025, the gas pipeline project should reach 38 bcm per year). According to Putin, the total volume of gas supply in 2030 will be at least 98 bcm and 100 million tons of LNG.
But the joint Sino-Russian statement concluding the visit said nothing about Siberia 2 and additional gas supplies to the PRC. Xi Jinping also did not say anything about it.
“The list of documents signed by the parties during this visit seems very rare,” said Alexander Gabuw, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “These are mostly intergovernmental agreements, notes. He added that there was nothing there as great as the power of Siberia.
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