In May, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become China’s top provider of crude oil.

China imported 3.92 million metric tons of crude oil from Russia in May, according to Beijing-based General Administration of Customs. Calculations bring this to 927,000 barrels per day—a 20 percent increase from April. In the same month, sales from Saudi Arabia dropped 42 percent to slightly over 3 million tons.

Chief oil analyst at London’s Energy Aspects Ltd., Amrita Sen, stated, “Russia is increasingly looking east, and the various deals made between Rosneft and China are likely to see more Russian crude head to China permanently.”

The last time Russia topped the provider charts for China was October 2005.

Hong Kong-based head of regional oil and gas research at Nomura Holdings Inc. Gordon Kwan said, “Following Russia’s recent acceptance of the [yuan] as payments for oil, we expect more record-high oil imports ahead to China.” He attributes the decline of Chinese interest in Saudi crude oil to Saudi Arabia’s refusal to accept the yuan—it uses the dollar to trade.

Lately, China is pushing trade with the yuan, and Russia is elated to oblige.

Russia’s rise to position number one for China’s crude oil imports is a sign of increasing bilateral relations. The West’s sanctions on Russia force it to look elsewhere for trading partners. China stepped up to partially fill Russia’s void of trading partners.

On the world playground, Western nations “kindly” uninvited Russia from playing marbles in their circle by slapping sanctions on it. Almost immediately, China invited Russia to play in its game, and the two seem to be the best of pals.

Russo-Chinese relations are a foreboding sign for the West, given their common ideal: anti-Western sentiment to the core. Both minimize the Sino-Soviet disagreement from the Cold War while they highlight disputes with the West. Both contend that the financial 2008 meltdown illustrates the Western economic model is substandard in comparison to their own.

Improving Russo-Chinese ties are accelerating at an alarming rate, but the Trumpet has long watched and warned of warming relations between the two. Friendlier ties herald a time where nations will congeal to become kingdoms—known in the Bible as the “kings of the east.” To learn more, read “The Russia-China Axis Is Here and It’s Changing the World.”