O porto e a cidade de Vladivostok pertenciam à China, até a dinastia Qing cedê-los ao Império czarista, em sua expansão em direção aó Pacífico. Harbin, a capital da província chinesa da Manchuria foi fundada por engenheiros russos, no mesmo movimento. Agora que a Rússia, destruída pela irresponsabilidade de Putin, se torna vassala da China, tudo vai retornar ao dominio do novo Celeste império sendo reconstruído por seu novo imperador.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
Fascinating development: With its military decimated and its economy in tatters, Russia quietly opens the port of Vladivostok to China - 163 years after the Qing ceded it to the Russian Empire. (Chris Horton, 何桂森)
Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, Russia has opened the key port of Vladivostok to China, which will enhance the transportation of domestic goods in China’s northeast region. Many see this as an act of goodwill, while some believe that Russia could be turning into a vassal of China. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Wong Siew Fong takes us through what the port opening means for China.
China-Russia relations have grown closer since the Russia-Ukraine war. According to China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC), Russia’s port of Vladivostok will be added to its list of transit ports for the domestic transportation of goods. This means that after 163 years, Russia is reopening this key port to China after it was ceded by the Great Qing to the Russian Empire in 1860. Not only that, the northeastern interior of China will gain access to the sea.
An interviewed academic said this further proved that the scales have tipped in favour of China being the dominant partner in China-Russia relations amid Russia’s isolation due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Cutting cost of domestic trade logistics
The GAC released a notice on further expanding the operation of its cross-border transportation of domestic goods in Jilin province on 4 May, but the news only garnered attention from the Chinese press on 15 May. According to the notice, with effect from 1 June, Russia’s Vladivostok will be operational as a Chinese transit port.
Located in northeast Eurasia, Vladivostok is the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean with an annual container throughput of nearly 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The city is also the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet.
Once the new measures take effect, Jilin and Heilongjiang’s land transport distance to the sea will be significantly reduced, which will greatly enhance their manufacturing competitiveness.
Under the name Haishenwai (海参崴), Vladivostok was previously part of China during the Qing dynasty. However, in November 1860, the territory east of the Ussuri River, including Vladivostok, was ceded to the Russian Empire under the Treaty of Peking. In the past 163 years, the neighbouring Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin did not have access to the sea, and could only reach Dalian, Yingkou and other ports in Liaoning province through overland transportation.
Once the new measures take effect, Jilin and Heilongjiang’s land transport distance to the sea will be significantly reduced, which will greatly enhance their manufacturing competitiveness.
Quoting a veteran Shanghai-based freight forwarder, Caixin reported that in the past, goods shipped from northeast China to domestic destinations had to be first loaded onto ships in Yingkou or Dalian before they could be transported to Xiamen, Guangzhou or other regions. However, the distance from Jilin and Heilongjiang to the ports in Liaoning is over 1,000 kilometres, which racks up huge transportation costs.
In comparison, as Heilongjiang’s Suifenhe and Jilin’s Hunchun are only about 200 kilometres away from Vladivostok, land transportation costs will be greatly reduced. Shipping goods from northern to southern China via the foreign port of Vladivostok will not only cut costs but also help China strengthen its industrial and supply chains with its neighbours.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a government order approving an intergovernmental agreement to supply natural gas to China via the Far East gas pipeline route, which ends in Vladivostok.
Low-key release of news
Some analyses point out that Vladivostok is located in Northeast Asia where China, North Korea, Japan and Russia meet, and is the transport node between the whole of Europe and Asia. The opening up of Russia’s far eastern region will strongly boost the economic development of China’s northeastern region.
Notably, Russia’s TASS news agency also reported last week that Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a government order approving an intergovernmental agreement to supply natural gas to China via the Far East gas pipeline route, which ends in Vladivostok.
As Western countries entered the G7 and Quad summits season in May, the Chinese government’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs Li Hui kicked off his visit to Ukraine, Russia and other European countries this week. Amid Western wariness of China-Russia relations, both China and Russia have kept a low profile over the news of opening up the Vladivostok port to China.
Caixin reported on the news of Vladivostok’s opening to China over a week after the release of the document — there were no reports on this significant joint effort in other state Chinese media such as the People’s Daily and the Global Times in the past week.
After Caixin’s report came out, the GAC issued a statement in the form of a Q&A on its official WeChat account on the evening of 15 May, stating that the inclusion of Vladivostok as an overseas transit port for Jilin is a mutually beneficial cooperation model between the two countries, and the GAC will actively provide support for operations based on its follow-up evaluation.
China benefiting from war in Ukraine
Following the war in Ukraine, many analysts believe that Russia, which has been isolated by the international community, will increasingly depend on China and may even gradually become its vassal state. Public opinion in China also calls the opening of Vladivostok port to China a “bonus” of the Ukraine war.
…while China will become the stronger side in China-Russia relations, it is an oversimplification to interpret it as Russia becoming a vassal of China — China is also in need of Russia’s support. — James Dorsey, senior research fellow, Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
James Dorsey, senior research fellow at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said that Russia’s opening of a key port like Vladivostok to China is clearly a gesture of goodwill. Following the war in Ukraine, the balance of China-Russia relations has shifted towards China, and Russia needs China more, and it is actively promoting economic cooperation between both countries.
However, Dorsey also said that while China will become the stronger side in China-Russia relations, it is an oversimplification to interpret it as Russia becoming a vassal of China — China is also in need of Russia’s support.
This article was first published in Lianhe Zaobao as “时隔163年 俄罗斯对中国开放符拉迪沃斯托克港”.
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