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Beijing, Moscow are on good terms, envoy says, despite last-minute change

Beijing and Moscow have not had any disagreements over an oil pipeline linking Siberia with northeast China, says the ambassador to Russia.

At a rare press conference in Moscow, Liu Guchang rejected claims that the Russian government had been influenced by Japanese lobbying in rerouting the pipeline, and stressed that Beijing and Moscow had agreed on the project.

China and Russia signed a preliminary agreement in 2000 to build an oil pipeline from Angarsk in Eastern Siberia to Daqing,  the site of China's largest oilfield.

But the project suffered a setback last week when a Japanese government official announced the pipeline would be rerouted to Nakhodka, on Russia's Pacific coast, for easy export to Japan and other countries.

Only a branch of the pipeline will now be extended to Daqing.

Mr Liu said  the Russian government had promised to ship crude oil to China by rail before a pipeline was built, showing that the two countries were on good terms.

Mr Liu said China and Russia were committed to strengthening bilateral trade.

Bilateral trade has been strong, increasing to US$15.7 billion last year. Since the two countries' exports complemented each other, the uptrend was expected to continue, he said. The two nations were trying to strengthen bilateral trade by diversifying from primary materials into more value-added goods.

At an upcoming trade fair on investment in Russia's Far East, mainland firms are expected to look into investment opportunities in developing the region's natural resources, infrastructure, machinery and light industries.

In February, Russian police swooped on warehouses in Moscow and confiscated a large amount of Chinese goods, which they claimed had entered Russia without clearing customs.

Mr Liu said most of the goods had arrived in Russia on chartered flights and duties had been paid.  However, the Chinese trading companies involved could not produce itemised tariff receipts.

The ambassador said this kind of 'grey' trade would take time to eradicate, and in the meantime the Chinese embassy in Moscow would form a joint taskforce with the Russian police to investigate the incident.

Regarding the contentious issue of mainlanders entering Russia illegally, Mr Liu estimated there were between 150,000 and 200,000 Chinese living in Russia, although the Russian census shows 350,000. He said the central government  staunchly opposed any illegal border crossing.



'No quarrel' with Russia on Siberian  oil pipeline