'What are their economic ties?

Although trade between the countries has increased over the past two decades—reaching an all-time high of $240 billion in 2023—their economic relationship is lopsided. Russia depends far more on China than vice versa, which has generated concerns in Moscow. For example, while China has become Russia’s number-one trade partner, Russia was only China’s sixth-largest trade partner as of 2023. Russia also relies on Chinese companies and banks for critical investment in its energy and telecommunications infrastructure. Russia Is More Dependent on China Than Vice Versa Goods trade in 2022 Two pie charts showing that trade with China is 26% of Russia’s total trade, and trade with Russia is 3% of China’s total trade

Trade with China is 26% of Russia’s total trade

Trade with Russia is 3% of China’s total trade

Russia’s

total trade:

China’s

total trade:

$681B

$5.89T Source: Observatory of Economic Complexity.

In 2022, the United States, Japan, and the European Union, moved to ban imports of Russian oil in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. But China remained a key buyer—imports from Russia rose 49 percent to $76.4 billion that year, deepening Russia’s reliance on trade with China. As of October 2023, China’s trade surplus with Russia was $2.42 billion, with $8.68 billion worth of imports to Russia and $11.1 billion worth of exports. China-Russia trade is already heavily dominated by energy, partly because China has enormous energy needs, and Russia has an abundance of oil and natural gas, creating what experts call complementary economies. Indeed, more than half of Russia’s exports to China in 2020 were energy-related. And in June 2023, China’s crude imports from Russia marked the largest volume ever imported from any country in any month. But some experts predict that China’s increased use of electric vehicles and renewable energy will decrease its reliance on Russian natural resources in the future.

Before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin and Xi agreed to boost annual trade by almost 50 percent in 2024, and Beijing plans to invest $1 billion to build the “Power of Siberia 2,” a second, cross-border gas pipeline. (Today, most of Russia’s pipelines flow to Europe. Only one goes to China.) However, the project has been consistently delayed by China despite Russian officials—including Putin—insisting that the pipeline is almost completed. As of early 2024, the pipeline is still in the negotiation phase.

In an effort to reduce their dependence on Western banking systems, China and Russia have started to move away from using U.S. dollars for trade, a process known as de-dollarization. Russia has increasingly used euros for its foreign trade, though, with China, it has more frequently used the renminbi or the ruble. However, China has not yet joined Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) financial transfer system, which was created as an alternative to the U.S.-led Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT). Although it is not clear whether Russia is formally part of the BRI, Putin has attended every Belt and Road forum since its inaugural meeting in 2017. At the 2023 BRI summit, Putin was the guest of honor and used the platform to encourage international investment in Russia’s Northern Sea Route, a 3,480-mile (5,600-kilometer) shipping route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through the Arctic.'

source- https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-russia-relationship-xi-putin-taiwan-ukraine