Putin: Far Eastern Russia Will Benefit from Prosperous China

The growing prosperity of China will benefit the development of Far Eastern Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the state-owned Russian news channel Rossiya 24 yesterday. Putin spoke during his marathon road trip inaugurating the Khabarovsk-Chita highway, the first-ever paved road to link Far Eastern Russia to the rest of the nation. It is up to Russia to develop these neglected regions, Putin said; in that situation, having a prosperous and flourishing neighbor is the best alternative—echoing the essential concept of the Peace of Westphalia.

In the recent period, both Moscow and Beijing have been developing a strategic plan for prosperous regional cooperation between Northeast China and the Russian Far East Area and Eastern Siberia, and this was on the agenda of Putin's groundbreaking visit to China in October 2009. This huge region of Russia is rapidly losing population and suffers from totally inadequate infrastructure; in China, the northeast, 50 years ago the leading industrial region, has become an industrial "rust belt."

The issue was raised by the interviewer's questions about the economic growth of northeast China, just across the Amur (Heilongjiang) River — and assumptions that "the conditions of our neighbor [China] are becoming constrained because of a fast growing population." Putin said that he did not think that the growth of towns and cities on the Chinese side of the river border, is "China's economic expansion.... China's northern regions are growing now not because of constrained conditions in the country, but because the Chinese government is implementing consistent policies for the economy and for the ethnic composition of its northern territories. I think that we [Russia] will eventually benefit from this, provided we choose an appropriate policy. It makes more sense to have a prosperous and flourishing neighbor than a poor and ailing neighbor who needs permanent attention.

"At the same time," Putin said, "we should work accordingly to develop these territories. We have not paid enough attention to them until recently. I would like the economic and social development to increase in Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Primorye Territory and here in the Amur Region. We will attain these objectives if the plans we are discussing during this trip are implemented. In that case we will have comfortable cooperation and will benefit from having a prosperous partner."

Cooperation with China is not just in selling oil and electricity, Putin said. "[D]o not forget that we also sell millions and possibly billions of dollars worth of special equipment and armaments to China, which are high-tech products. Russia should not compete with China in the production of cheaper consumer goods. We are unlikely to win such a competition," Putin said.

"Our competitive advantage is different: high-tech products. I have no doubt that we have a good chance of succeeding if we continue our development and progress along this path."