Post by Deleted on May 20, 2014 16:24:44 GMT
China and Russia Fail to Reach Agreement on Gas Plan
BEIJING — President Xi Jinping of China and the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, were unable to announce an agreement on a natural gas deal on Tuesday, despite high expectations that mutual political interests would help finally push through the project.
Instead, commercial concerns continued to dominate — specifically, the price of the gas, which China and Russia have been haggling over for nearly a decade. After the meeting between the two leaders, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that talks were continuing.
(...)
Energy analysts had predicted that there would finally be an agreement, partly because Russia might have been willing to accept China’s hard bargaining in order to diversify Gazprom’s natural gas sales into Asia and away from a stagnant market in Europe.
Some analysts believed that the countries’ political imperatives were also aligned. By this reasoning, China was willing to help Russia at a time of American and European sanctions over Ukraine, and China was interested in siding with Russia during a tense period in relations between Washington and Beijing.
BEIJING — President Xi Jinping of China and the Russian leader, Vladimir V. Putin, were unable to announce an agreement on a natural gas deal on Tuesday, despite high expectations that mutual political interests would help finally push through the project.
Instead, commercial concerns continued to dominate — specifically, the price of the gas, which China and Russia have been haggling over for nearly a decade. After the meeting between the two leaders, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said that talks were continuing.
(...)
Energy analysts had predicted that there would finally be an agreement, partly because Russia might have been willing to accept China’s hard bargaining in order to diversify Gazprom’s natural gas sales into Asia and away from a stagnant market in Europe.
Some analysts believed that the countries’ political imperatives were also aligned. By this reasoning, China was willing to help Russia at a time of American and European sanctions over Ukraine, and China was interested in siding with Russia during a tense period in relations between Washington and Beijing.
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Full article (The New York Times)
The state visit comes as China hosts a key summit of Asian states in Shanghai that includes delegates from nearly 40 countries and international organisations.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is attending, as are the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Cambodia. President Xi is expected to make announcements on security in Asia at the summit.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is attending, as are the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Cambodia. President Xi is expected to make announcements on security in Asia at the summit.
Fair use for educational and discussion purposes
Full article (BBC News)
Looks like Russia is trying to partner up with China.