China’s trade with Russia up by 12% in March from a year earlier
China’s trade with Russia jumped by more than 12% in March from a year earlier, outpacing the increase in Beijing’s trade with the rest of the world, according to Chinese customs data.
Shipments to and from Russia increased 12.76% in March to $11.67bn, Chinese customs data showed on Wednesday, slowing from 25.7% growth in February, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
The decline in trade with Russia was less severe than the decline with other countries, fuelling concerns that China has maintained strong links with Moscow despite the atrocities perpetrated by the Russian military in Ukraine.
China’s growth in trade during March with the rest of the world was only 7.75%, after it increased to $505bn.
Beijing has refused to call Russia’s action an invasion and has repeatedly criticised what it says are illegal western sanctions to punish Moscow.
Several weeks before the attack on Ukraine, China and Russia declared a “no-limits” strategic partnership, whereby there are no forbidden areas of cooperation. Last year, total trade between China and Russia jumped 35.8% to a record $147bn.
As sanctions against Russia mount, western countries fear China could offset some of its neighbour’s pain by buying more from it. Russia is a major source of oil, gas, coal and agricultural commodities for China.
But analysts told Reuters they have yet to see any major indication China is violating western sanctions on Russia.
A spokesperson for Chinese customs, Li Kuiwen, said China’s economic and trade cooperation with other countries including Russia and Ukraine remains normal.
A group of German policy institutes said Germany could be plunged into recession if Europe’s largest economy is forced to block imports of Russian gas. German GDP
Read more on theguardian.com
