Deal of the century?

Putin and Xi ink deal for China to import Russian gas

“My enemy’s enemy is my friend” is a pithy phrase but hardly a new one. The concept is thought to have been first expressed in a Sanskrit treatise on statecraft in the fourth century BC. Much later Winston Churchill invoked the sentiment once more in defence of wartime aid to the Soviet Union. In the battle with Germany Britain’s leader said he had put his anti-Communist sympathies aside, declaring: “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.”

In the contemporary world of power politics, the phrase is again being applied to Russian relations with China. Faced with a hostile reception in Europe and the US, Moscow has looked east to China, a country that has chosen not to condemn Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea. In part China’s Russia policy is an extension of its own deteriorating relations with Washington. Prime among these are its strategic concerns over the US “pivot” to Asia (which China views as an attempt to militarily thwart its own regional ambitions). Relations received another jolt last week when the US Justice Department indicted five Chinese army officers on charges of espionage.

Putin’s visit to Shanghai brought back into sharp relief the idea of ‘my enemy’s enemy’ as he portrayed the bear and the dragon as grand bedfellows in a US-dominated world. In an interview with local media Putin called China “our trusted friend” and claimed that cooperation between the two countries had “reached its highest level ever”. In a remark that seemed squarely aimed at the White House, Putin also said of the new Sino-Russian amity: “Our positions on the main global and regional issues are similar or even identical.”

And the Russian president was keen to provide more concrete evidence of his reorientation from west to east. So even before he arrived it was widely touted he would sign a 30-year deal to pipe vast amounts of gas into China. Doing so would demonstrate the strengthening of ties, analysts thought, as well as allow the Russians more room for maneouvre with some of their international critics.
After years of bickering over the terms, the contract was finally signed last week.

So a deal is signed at last?
Most of the press has reported that there were 15 years of negotiations leading up to last week’s announcement, although Xinhua dates the dialogue back even further to 1994, when the first memorandum of understanding was signed between the two countries on gas exports.

Whatever the starting point, the talks have advanced at a glacial pace. And while eight further agreements have been signed over the last 10 years, there’s been no sign of final terms being reached.

Please read the whole story at Week in China.