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Chinese PM’s visit to Russia especially important amid sanctions, expert says

Liu Xu specified that Western pressure on China and Russia "may create fundamental issues in the future"

BEIJING, August 20. /TASS/. Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang’s visit to Russia will provide Moscow and Beijing with an important opportunity to coordinate trade and financial issues amid Western sanctions, Liu Xu, deputy director of the Institute for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies at Renmin University of China, told TASS.

"As for the most frequently used terms regarding cooperation between China and Russia, we can see that wording related to trade and finances is used the most extensively," the expert said, commenting on the Chinese premier’s visit to Russia. "Due to Western economic sanctions, we have experienced a certain degree of interference in many areas of bilateral trade," the expert added.

Liu specified that Western pressure on China and Russia "may create fundamental issues in the future." "This is particularly true for mutual settlements," he added.

The analyst expressed confidence that sanctions would not stop Chinese companies from investing in the Russian economy, including the automotive industry, the pharmaceutical sector, advanced technologies and environmental projects, as well as mining. Liu believes that a consensus would be implemented based on the mechanism of regular meetings between the two countries' prime ministers, which was achieved by President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir Putin of Russia during the latter’s visit to China in May.

Li Qiang is making a visit to Russia on August 20-22 at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin. He will also meet with Putin. Mishustin and Li will take part in the 29th regular meeting of the prime ministers of Russia and China. The mechanism, established in 1996, involves five intergovernmental commissions operating at the level of deputy prime ministers, as well as 80 sector-specific subcommittees and working groups. The previous meeting in the series was held in Beijing on December 19, 2023.

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