Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Putin's China visit watched for strategic signals

E' una relazione molto interessante questa tra Cina e Russia.  Da un 
lato avrebbero teoricamente un reciproco interesse ad una partnership 
commerciale e politica più stretta; dall'altro lato i due paesi sono 
troppo geograficamente vicini e troppo culturalmente lontani perché 
ambedue non percepiscano come pericolosa questa prospettiva.
Il baricentro della Russia tende all'Europa, per nostra fortuna.
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Putin's China visit watched for strategic signals
Vladimir Putin’s expected visit to China is the his first move for 
stepping up Russia’s foreign policy and getting in on China's booming 
economy ahead of his controversial re-election, set to take place in March
Reuters , Sunday 9 Oct 2011
Vladimir Putin visits China on Tuesday in his first foreign trip since 
revealing plans to reclaim Russia's presidency, addressing a challenging 
relationship with a giant neighbor whose growth is both an opportunity 
and a potential threat for Moscow.
For Putin, whose main focus has been domestic in nearly four years as 
prime minister, the trip sets in motion a return to forefront of Russian 
foreign policy ahead of a March election in which he is expected to win 
a six-year term as president.
Beneath talk of strategic relations and shared stances on world affairs, 
wrangling over a gas pact worth a potential $1 trillion points up the 
tough issues he will confront in dealing with Russia's far more 
populous, faster growing neighbor.
China, facing its own leadership transition next year, may try to gauge 
Putin's plans for what could be 12 years at the helm of a country whose 
natural resources and nuclear arms make it a factor in Beijing's 
economic and geopolitical strategies.
"The significance of this trip exceeds that of a normal prime 
minister-level visit," said Zhao Huasheng, director at the Center for 
Russia and Central Asia Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University.
Putin will bring an army of executives including the CEOs of 
state-controlled energy firms Gazprom and Rosneft and aluminum producer 
UC RUSAL, all eager to exchange their wares for Chinese cash.
His meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen 
Jiabao will feature warm affirmations of friendship and solidarity on 
big global issues between two countries that often move in lockstep to 
counter the United States and Europe.
Their double veto last week of a European-drafted, US-backed UN Security 
Council resolution to condemn Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy 
protesters was a warning against Western meddling in their own countries 
and others worldwide.
Putin may use the trip to show the West an emphasis on China as Russia's 
geopolitical partner and a customer for its energy.
He did just that in a televised meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller 
on October 3, pointedly ordering him to prepare proposals on expansion 
into Asian markets, seen as a way to diversify Russian energy exports 
away from stagnant Europe.
President Dmitry Medvedev has not been cool to China since Putin steered 
him into the Kremlin after his own 2000-2008 presidency, but his 
emphasis has been on presenting a friendlier face to the West and 
improving ties with the United States.
Putin's meeting with Miller followed European Commission raids on 
offices of Gazprom subsidiaries in Europe that underscored persistent 
tensions over the continent's heavy reliance on Russian gas, which EU 
members want to reduce.
But China's friendly political ties with Russia, and their partnership 
in the loose BRIC grouping that also includes India and Brazil, do not 
make Beijing less of a tough customer when it comes to energy deals.
Putin will likely seek to resolve the price disagreements that have 
prevented Russia nailing down a 30-year deal to supply China with up to 
68 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
But Gazprom's export chief told Reuters last month that the 
five-year-old negotiations might not end this year, pushing back initial 
deliveries beyond the latest target of 2016.
Meanwhile, China is cultivating other sources of energy supplies, 
particularly in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
A report this month by the Stockholm International Peace Research 
Institute (SIPRI) said China was gaining the upper hand in the 
relationship as it becomes less reliant on Russia for advanced weapons 
and looks elsewhere for some of its energy.
It said Russia's significance to China would continue to diminish in the 
coming years, and that "there are strategic planners in Beijing and 
Moscow who view the other side as the ultimate strategic threat in the 
long term.
While Putin may use China as a foil against the West, the pragmatic 
former KGB officer is well aware of such concerns.
As he prepares for what could be two six-year terms as president, "the 
risks from China's growth will be watched more closely than the 
opportunities," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in 
Global Affairs.
At an investor conference on Thursday, Putin used a joke to play down 
the challenge posed by China's faster growth after TPG Capital 
co-founder David Bonderman outlined China's path to becoming the world's 
largest economy.
"He got me worried. He said that the United States is so far the world's 
biggest economy but China will undoubtedly take over. So we now need to 
keep our foreign currency reserves in yuan while the Chinese will keep 
them in dollars," Putin said.
"That will be an interesting Russian doll."
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/9/23693/World/International/Putins-China-visit-watched-for-strategic-signals-.aspx
-- 
Sostieni Rete ECO
http://rete-eco.it/it/sostienici.html

 Il baricentro della Russia tende all'Europa, per nostra fortuna.
Il baricentro della Russia tende alla Russia.


Dipende da dove hanno il pigreco.
-- 
*Sunspot*
Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Stay dead.

Pastorello di Pecorella ha scritto:

E sempre che pestare cacche di cammello qui e là non gli scombini 
l'equilibrio.

Il 09/10/11 23:09, Der Bildungsphilister ha scritto:

Cirillo e Metodio hanno portato pure quelle?
-- 
Dead men may not talk, but they also don't lie.  [Chuck Hawks]


Ulp! Mi fai venire in mente che, più che il pigreco, lì è in uso il 
picirillico. Ciò cambia le prospettive.


Il 09/10/11 23.08, Pastorello di Pecorella ha scritto:

Tra Samara e Kazan.
PP


wrote:

che domande, nell'anima.

Il Finanziatore di Luca Logi ha scritto:
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Ma no, direi che tendono a pestare in zone dove le cacche sono indigene.


wrote:

impossibile. L'anima russa non caga.