Why does this matter? China gets more than 50% discount on LNG imports from Russia is a massive sign of Russian desperation and China putting the screws to them.
Russia isn’t doing this because they really like China. This shows they have no leverage or options at this point. The big picture of money coming in for Russia greatly affects their warfighting capability. This type of agreement is worth paying attention to.
China doesn’t really pick sides. They pick what is good for China.
I get your point, but I have a nitpick. This is not about China or Russia but rather about Xi and Putin. It’s about their personal power and enrichment, what’s best for their countries or the people don’t matter to them.
This comes up often - these are not rational nation states with collective incentives, strong institutions and a predictable set of rules. These are cruel gangster kings consumed by older notions, like legacy and glory for The Leader. Russia and China are not like other nation states that play by predictable rules and will restrain themselves for diplomatic reasons. They do what they can get away with, because that is the nature of power and pain. Those are what matters in their world - diplomacy is a trick of the weak to keep down the strong.
Xi and Putin are two of the wealthiest people on the planet. Why? Because that’s the point of power in their realms. And they had to lie, backstab, kill and steal to get there. They’re very good at it.
and owning siberia is good economically for them.
More than “good”…its strategically vital. The main risk for the entire northern chinese plain including the region around Beijing is a shortage of fresh water. Letting the morons in Russia destroy themselves with a failing war of Cold War revenge wil give China effective control of every resource they need for the next century. At rates that Russia will be unable to refuse because of their idiotic war making them beholden to China for economic survival.
russia is a vassal state to china. i dont know about indias partnership with russia, they seems to be a in cahoots with each other. pakistan hates india, so does china, so they are totally friends, especially china gave pakistan nukes in the cold war. russia influence is probably jeoparadized in the region.
You’re absolutely right, Russia is a vassal state to China. Or worse, they might now be a resource colony to solve any problem that china has with minerals, energy, fresh water, capital markets, etc.
India is currently run by emboldened Hindu nationalists and they always like being on the good end of an economic agreement, let’s say. They have a long history of close relations with Russia, straddling the middle ground as a founding member of the Non-Aligned moement. China likes China, and ONLY China. If your interests intersect for a while, that’s nice - but not the point.
Indeed, and Russia knows this. But hubris takes up a bigger part of their brutalist psyche than their fear of china at the moment