China pledges to help Russia overcome economic hardships
China’s foreign minister has pledged support to Russia as it faces an economic downturn due to sanctions and a drop in oil prices. Boosting trade in yuan is a solution proposed by Beijing’s commerce minister.
“Russia has the capability and the wisdom to overcome the
existing hardship in the economic situation," Foreign
Minister Wang Yi told journalists, China Daily reported Monday.
“If the Russian side needs it, we will provide necessary
assistance within our capacity."
The offer of help comes as Russians are still recovering from the
shock of the ruble’s worst crash in years last Tuesday, when it
lost over 20 percent against the US dollar
and the euro. The Russian currency bounced back the next day, but
it still has lost almost half of its value since March.
At his annual end-of-year press conference on Thursday, Vladimir
Putin acknowledged the ruble has been tumbling along with the
price of oil, and estimated that Western sanctions account for
25-30 percent of the Russian economic crisis. However, the
president’s economic forecast is that the slump will not be a
lasting one.
READ MORE: Putin: Russian economy will inevitably bounce back, 2 years in worst case scenario
Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng proposed on Saturday to expand the use of the yuan in trade with Russia.
He said the use of the Chinese currency has been increasing for several years but western sanctions on Russia had made the trend more prominent, Reuters cited Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV as saying.
Gao said this year’s trade between China and Russia could reach
$100 billion, approximately 10 percent growth compared to last
year.
READ
MORE: Russia-China trading settlements in yuan increases 800%
The minister said he did not expect cooperation on energy and
manufacturing projects with Russia to be greatly affected by the
current crisis.
“Many Chinese people still view Russia as the big brother, and the two countries are strategically important to each other,” Jin Canrong, Associate Dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, told Bloomberg. “For the sake of national interests, China should deepen cooperation with Russia when such cooperation is in need.”
China has been increasingly seeking deals in its own currency to
challenge the US dollar’s dominance on the international market.
READ MORE: Argentina to get $1bn in currency swap
with China before end of 2014
And Beijing is not alone in attempts to counter the influence of
Western-based lending institutions and the US currency.
BRICS, the group of emerging economies that comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, accounting for one-fifth of global economic output, has been pursuing the same goal. The five nations agreed in July to increase mutual trade in local currencies, and also to create a BRICS Development Bank with investment equivalent to $100 billion as an alternative to the Western-controlled World Bank.
