A powerful relationship is developing in the East. Combined, two Eastern powers control the immediate destinies of 1.5 billion people. Both have a strong communist sentiment as well as anti-Western ideologies. Located on the Asian continent, Russia and China are showing the Western world that they are a force that cannot be ignored.
A major push in this growing bilateral relationship came last spring when Russia invaded Ukraine and sliced off Crimea for itself. The West responded with sanctions on Russia that March. These sanctions pushed Russia into China’s arms.
How have Russia and China developed ties since the sanctions were applied? Here are a few examples:
- In May 2014, Russia and China signed a landmark $400 billion natural gas deal—the largest deal in human history. In November, they followed up with another gas deal—this was the second-largest deal ever signed.
- In the same month, Russia and China held their first-ever joint naval exercises near Japanese-administered islands that lie at the heart of a China-Japan territorial dispute.
- In August, China declared it would be more open to bilateral trade with Russia in regards to agricultural goods. This largely alleviated much of the pressure the West hoped to apply via sanctions.
- In January this year, China proposed a high-speed rail link between Beijing and Moscow. Once completed, the rail line will be the first transnational rail between the two countries.
- In early May, Russia and China signed deals to integrate China’s “Silk Road” and Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union, making bilateral trading easier for both parties.
- The same month, Russia and China signed a deal promising they would not perform cyberattacks on one another in coming months and years.
- Also in May, a group of Chinese combat ships arrived at Russia’s Novorossiysk naval base located on the Black Sea.
- That month Russia and China also united in joint military exercises in the Mediterranean Sea—far from either nation’s home ports.
- May also saw Russia surpass Saudi Arabia as China’s number one supplier of crude oil.
- In June, Russia’s biggest commercial lender, Sberbank, bucked the norm to issue a yuan-based loan to Russia’s pharmaceutical giant Pharmasyntez.
- Russia’s Zabaikalsky Krai region signed a preliminary deal with Hua’e Xingbang, a private Chinese company, for a $440 million, 49-year lease for 385 square miles of land to the Chinese company.
- In late June, China began construction on its section of the eastern gas pipeline known as “Power of Siberia.” The pipeline will deliver 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually.
These are a few of the numerous major and minor military and economic deals and developments that have occurred since the West began its sanctions on Russia.
Because Russia is a major natural resource producer and China is a major consumer, the two nations fit each other like puzzle pieces.
Combine Russia’s aptitude for producing energy, along with its nuclear weaponry and military prowess, with China’s economy and sheer number of people and you have an astonishingly complementary force.
In fact, the Bible prophesies that these two great powerhouses will continue to grow closer together. Eventually, they will combine forces to raise a military of 200 million men. The Trumpet has warned of this alliance since the early 1990s when Russia was weak and falling apart and China was nowhere near the economic mammoth it is today. To understand why the Trumpet saw this trend 25 years ago and what it means for the world today, request our free booklet Russia and China in Prophecy. ▪
