Putin’s Busy Trip To China

                                         Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping (Photo: CICA Summit)

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was in China this week on a state visit and at the same time to attend the fourth Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The conference was held in Shanghai on May 20-21.

The conference has been held every four years since 1992. It was first proposed by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev to promote peace, security and stability in the region. China’s CCTV reports that there are now 24 member states and 13 observer states that make up the conference. Topics addressed covered are:

• Terrorism
• Drug trafficking
• Separatist and ethnic forces
• Environmental issues
• Maritime issues
• Energy

 This year’s attendees, in addition to Putin included Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

 The big news to come out of Putin’s visit was not the conference but the closing of a 30-year, China-Russia energy deal to supply Russian natural gas to China. A $400 billion agreement was signed between Russian’s GAZPROM and China’s National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The deal had been on the table for a long time but was finally closed during Putin’s visit.

Lesser deals were reported including an understanding for joint development of  a long-haul airliner to compete with Boeing and Airbus, an agreement on the building of a bridge on the Amur River between China and Russia, and discussions on possible Russian weapons sales to China.