“Negotiations are ongoing.” Russia has a dispute with China

Russia’s state-owned energy holding company Inter RAO began restricting electricity supplies to China after Beijing refused to buy it at a new, higher price.

Russia, trying to compensate for the decline in export revenues, decided to take advantage of China’s problems. Beijing is facing severe electricity shortages due to drought and reduced domestic coal production.

Difficult negotiations

According to an anonymous expert interviewed by journalists from the American ‘Newsweek’, China is showing a ‘decisive’ approach to negotiations with Russia and is taking a tough negotiating position.

Inter RAO said the new export tariffs, which came into effect on October 1, will mean a 7 percent increase in electricity prices for consumers in China, Mongolia, Azerbaijan and the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.

In August, Inter RAO representative Oleksandr Panin told reporters that China’s rejection of the new price could lead to a “complete shutdown” of electricity supplies.

– Negotiations with China are ongoing. We will start partial restrictions from today, the Inter RAO representative said, adding that Mongolia agreed to Russia’s price increase.

“Chinese energy companies and the state have always been known to be tough and patient in energy negotiations with Russia,” said Thomas O’Donnell, a Berlin-based geopolitical analyst and energy expert at the Wilson Center.

According to him, Beijing has already benefited enormously from the pressure on Russia when it was forced to supply oil and gas to China at reduced prices due to the loss of the European market.

Trade development

In the conditions of confrontation with the West, trade between Russia and China is flourishing. In the period January-August 2023, the volume increased by a third compared to the same period last year.

However, this trade is uneven. Due to the imbalance in the Russian ports, sea containers are gradually piling up there, because there is virtually nothing to transport from Russia to China.

Source: Do Rzeczy

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