China gets its pound of Russian flesh

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China on Tuesday and Wednesday to launch “The Year of Russia In China” and take part in the signing of about 30 mainly economic agreements, accompanied by an entourage of about 800 people.

Although two of the agreements deal with energy issues of top importance to China, the two countries may not have enough complementary interests to make their much-touted “strategic partnership” of primary importance to either.

..It is not clear whether the Russian pledges will be sufficient to satisfy their partners. Some Chinese trade officials have publicly complained in recent weeks that the Russians have given them mixed signals on the pipeline project and, perhaps more important, have shown little understanding of how the market works. Such an assessment seems all the more remarkable in that it comes from Chinese and not Western sources.

Asia Times