China, Russia trade continues despite Western sanctions, but Beijing ‘will not ride to the rescue’

Name: How international sanctions imposed since Ukraine invasion are hitting Russia
Uploaded: 2022-03-03T18:00:24.000Z
Duration: 4 min 1 s
Description: How international sanctions imposed since Ukraine invasion are hitting Russia

State-owned Shandong Expressway Minsheng Group bought 50 carriages of barley from Russia, which was transported by the China-Europe railway lines

A train carrying 747 tonnes (747,000kg) of goods left Liaoning province for Russia despite sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and their allies

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Beijing is now trying to maintain “normal” trade with both Russia and Ukraine, commerce Minister Wang Wentao said on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Frank Tang

Published: 2:00am, 4 Mar 2022Updated: 4:54pm, 9 Mar 2022

Barley and consumer goods have continued to flow between China and Russia along the China-Europe railway lines despite major shipping and air freight being severely restricted by Western sanctions.

The continued trade, which accounted for 18.6 per cent of Russia’s total last year, could provide a lifeline to the Russian economy, which has been shattered by the restrictions imposed by the United States, European Union and their allies after its invasion of Ukraine last week.

It also signals a subtle message from China, which has called for constraint and dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv.

China lifted restrictions on barley and wheat imports from Russia last month as part of the agreements signed during Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Xi Jinping on the eve of the Winter Olympics last month.

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How international sanctions imposed since Ukraine invasion are hitting Russia

Fifty carriages of barley, bought by the state-owned Shandong Expressway Minsheng Group, were transported from Kleschiha station in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, according to a statement posted by the Jinan municipal government in China’s eastern Shandong province.

It was transported through the northern border city of Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and eventually arrived in Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province that is 400km (250 miles) south of Beijing.

“This is the first time that Shandong province has imported Russian barley through the China-Europe trains,” the local government said on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Wednesday