VLADIVOSTOK, September 5. /TASS/. The Power of Siberia 2 project will safeguard China’s energy sector against shocks and reduce risks to energy consumption, Director of the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia at the Russian Academy of Sciences Kirill Babaev said in an interview with TASS.
"For China’s energy sector, this is above all a matter of ensuring its energy security," he said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). According to Babaev, the Iranian crisis has shown that maritime supplies can be cut off "with a single stroke of the pen from the White House," creating "enormous risks for the Chinese economy, which is a net importer of energy resources."
"In this sense, the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline will significantly mitigate these risks and allow China to feel secure in terms of energy consumption and the development of its own industries," he stressed.
"And for Russia, of course, this is no less important, since Russia is finally turning toward Eurasia in its largest export sector and will at last be able to balance its energy supplies, no longer depending entirely on deliveries to Western Europe but instead striking a balance between Asian and European consumers," he noted.
The trunk pipeline project Power of Siberia 2 is intended to connect natural gas fields in Western Siberia with China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region via the territory of Mongolia. Its design capacity is up to 50 bln cubic meters of gas per year. In January 2022, the project passed the feasibility study stage. Mongolia’s state expert review approved it in March 2025.
The 10th Eastern Economic Forum is taking place in Vladivostok from September 3 to 6 under the theme "The Far East: Cooperation for Peace and Prosperity." The business program will feature more than 100 thematic sessions divided into seven tracks. The forum is expected to bring together over 4,500 participants from more than 70 countries and territories. The Roscongress Foundation is the organizer of the EEF, with TASS as its general information partner.