Does China want to get Russian areas back, Mr. Mölling?

The planned gas pipeline “Power of Sibiria 2” between Russia and China, paradoxically, could help to reduce its dependence on Beijing. The security expert Christian Mölling believes that. Russia is currently “significantly dependent” on the production of weapons on China: “The greatest help is now obviously from China. Otherwise Russia could no longer maintain its war.”

With the new pipeline, Moscow could not only generate urgently needed income, but also “stabilize” relationships with Beijing. “One would get out of the strong one -sided dependence on China in the weapon area,” said Mölling, Senior Advisor at the Brussels Thinktank “European Policy Center”, im star– “The Location -International”.

According to Russian information, Moscow and Beijing have had on the building after years of discussions the “Power of Sibiria 2”. This was confirmed by the Gazprom boss Alexei Miller. However, an official confirmation from the Chinese side has not yet been made.

The new one pipeline Should be 2600 kilometers long and deliver up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas from western Siberia to northeast china every year. That would be almost as much as it came to Germany through the Baltic Sea through Nordstream 1.

That China could use the new pipeline to repeatedly formulated historical regional claims in Russia Mölling considers to enforce it is unlikely. “So far, my impression has always been that this is a political lever, “said the political scientist.” Something like that you can always wave in the direction of Moscow, as a tool in the instrument box of bilateral relationships, with which you can cause problems. ”

China had had to go to Russia in the 19th century. There had always been speculation in recent times, President Xi Jinping could be within the framework of his plan to 100th birthday of the People’s Republic in 2049 China to make the world’s dominant superpower again, not only bring back the Russian areas.

For China’s role, a Russian defeat would be the most threatening at the Ukrainian secretary, according to Mölling: “Then the whole investment would be lost what you are now doing in Russia, and also the alliance partner and thus also an attempt to build an alternative order in the world.”

But Russia would also be a risk for China, because it could reduce Moscow’s dependence on Beijing. Mölling therefore considers that the leadership in Beijing will rely on a permanent war in Ukraine: “Because it not only leads to a wear and tear from Russia and Ukraine, but also from all over Europe.” This in turn helps China to further expand its role on the world market.