China, Russia could skirt US sanctions with barter-trade deals that ‘break with tradition’
- Local-level authorities across China are discussing how to do more business with Russia while avoiding banking systems monitored the West
Some local governments in China have been leading discussions and making plans to begin barter trades with Russia amid media reports that the two countries will start using such goods-for-goods deals to circumvent Western sanctions.
Last month, officials from the northeastern Chinese province of Heilongjiang, which shares a border with Russia, met officials from the eastern province of Shandong in its port city Qingdao to “deepen understanding of barter trade and business experience” and to explore “new types of barter trades between China and Russia”.
At the meeting, officials from the Shandong Cross-border Barter Trade Association shared their experience with specific case studies in developing barter-trade schemes with Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, according to a press release from the Shandong government on July 8.
The government of Lianyungang, a city in the eastern province of Jiangsu, was also working on measures following greater complications reported by Chinese financial institutions in settling payments in China-Russia trade, according to a June 21 statement by the city government.
“Trade with Russia has both difficulties and opportunities. We must seize the opportunity in a timely manner, strengthen research into new barter-trade formats, dare to innovate, and break with tradition,” Jiang Xingzhou, director of the Lianyungang Municipal Bureau of Commerce, was quoted as saying in the statement.
Jiang added that customs, tax and commerce coordination will be “strengthened” to help resolve payment delays facing Chinese exporters.