Explainer | Will China’s investment in Russia’s Far East help an increasingly isolated Moscow?

Beijing and Moscow see development of Russia’s Far East as a driver of regional growth and China is the most important investor in the area

For China, developing the Far East has the potential to help northeastern ‘rust belt’ provinces, advance the Belt and Road Initiative and secure its northern border

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Workers on the China-Russia Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye cross-border railway bridge. Beijing and Moscow have stepped up development and cooperation in Russia’s Far East over the past decade. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 10:15pm, 21 Mar 2022Updated: 12:21am, 22 Mar 2022

In 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that economic development of the Far East was a “national priority of the entire 21st century”.

His “pivot to the east” policy aims to develop Russia’s vast, resource-rich eastern flank, which shares a 4,000km (2,500-mile) border with China, while tapping the economic potential of Asia.

Beijing and Moscow see a mutually beneficial partnership in the area and China’s State Council has described the Far East as a driver of regional growth, citing a direct link between the northeastern province of Heilongjiang and Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Oblast and Amur region.

It is also a part of the Polar Silk Road and there are expectations that port development along the Arctic coastline will unleash the economic potential of Northeast Asia.

With Russia under Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, observers are paying close attention to what economic support China is willing to give its strategic partner. Though long in planning, development of the Far East is one way in which the world’s No 2 economy can help offset the economic isolation Russia increasingly finds itself in.

What are the origins of China-Russia collaboration in the Far East?

Before he returned to the Russian presidency in 2012, Putin declared that the Far East must catch the “Chinese wind” in the sails of its economy. Since then he has sought China’s help to boost trade and investment in the region.