Moscow, Beijing Build Up Ties in Face of US, NATO Expansion – Russian MP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed on Friday a decree on cooperation in tying the development of the Eurasian Economic Union with China’s Silk Road economic project.

 Alexei Pushkov, who chairs the State Duma’s international affairs committee, views the fledgling alliance between Russia and China as a response to the US’ and NATO’s ongoing expansion.

“The United States and NATO have spent the past two decades redrawing the world to suit their interests. The alternative alliance between Russia and China comes as a response to the western alliance’s expansion,” Pushkov wrote on his Twitter account.

Russia and the People’s Republic of China inked a raft of trade and other economic cooperation accords, including on the sale of Russian natural gas to China, during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow.

Summing up the results of his meeting with the Chinese leader, President Vladimir Putin said bilateral cooperation as part of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Silk Road project could eventually create a common economic space in Eurasia.

“The integration of the Eurasian Economic Union and Silk Road projects means reaching a new level of partnership and implies a common economic space on the continent,” Putin said.

The Eurasian Economic Union of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia, which took effect on January 1, 2015,  is meant to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce on its territory.

RIA Novosti

M.W