Russia And China: Part Of Global Trend Of 'Ditching The U.S. Dollar'

Russia and China Won't Let West's 'Blackmail' Block Business Ties — Expert

Sputnik

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping adopted a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between their countries. The two agreed to boost the level of bilateral investment cooperation while resisting any attempts to limit their economic potential.

Russia and China will not allow the West's schemes to disrupt their trade ties, says a Chinese academic. 

Key agreements concluded during President Vladimir Putin’s state visit can be seen as a “resounding statement” that Russia and China won’t let business relations between them be the subject of "blackmail or coercion from a third country,” Dr John Gong, professor of economics at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing told Sputnik.

The identity of the unspoken “third country,” was obvious to all, said the China Forum expert, in a nod to Washington's habitual use of weaponized sanctions.

Trade between China and Russia growing very fast, with the trend set to continue, he noted.

“At the end of the day, I think China and Russia's economies are very complementary towards each other," Gong said. "And there should be a growth of economic relationship between the two sides. Not just in trade, but also in all other areas."

Ensuring that the mutual business investments between China and Russia are protected from dependency on third parties is a “tricky question,” the pundit acknowledged.

Acknowledging that this was a “difficult problem,” Gong hoped that the new agreements reached between Russia and China could offer “a way of getting around this.” 

He recalled how Iran has been subject to a raft of sanctions by Washington for over a decade.

“But that doesn't prevent the trade between China and Iran from conducting, from growing. So there are actually mechanisms to get around that,” Gong pointed out.

Looking ahead to the changes expected in the banking sector, the China Forum expert singled out the global trend of a ditching the US dollar in trade.

Putin stressed during his meeting with Xi that today that already 90 percent of trade between the two countries is settled in their two currencies.

“I think this is not just between China and Russia. I think it's an overall trend,” the academic remarked.

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