A top Chinese diplomat in Russia’s Far East region has suggested there are prospects for further integrating Russian fisheries with Chinese consumer demand.
Speaking at a forum of Chinese and Russian fishery officials and executives, the Chinese consul general in Vladivostok, Russia, Pu Yangfan, said China is the region’s biggest customer for seafood and holds the greatest potential for future Russian seafood sales.
Acknowledging that Russian seafood exports to China fell in the past two years – with the deep ties between the two countries strained by the COVID-19 pandemic – Pu said more cooperation in infrastructure and quarantine procedures would drive a turnaround in trade.
Speaking at the Heilongjiang Guangdong Russia Far East Seafood Cooperation Promotion Conference in Harbin on 6 July, Pu suggested that Chinese consumers are “eagerly anticipating” an increased supply of Russian seafood and suggested that cross border e-commerce could play a role.
Russian exports to China sank due to COVID-related controls at Chinese ports like Dalian, causing serious difficulties for Chinese processors. Yet Pu suggested that the difficulties could be overcome through “further integration” of Chinese and Russian customs standards and transport systems, in addition to integration of fisheries research, production, and processing.
China, which relies on Western markets for its exports, has become a major buyer of Russian energy and raw materials. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which led to a slew of sanctions against Russia from the U.S., E.U., the U.K., and multiple Asian nations – only increased China’s importance as a trade partner for Russia.
Despite many pledges of diplomatic and political support between Beijing and Moscow, further integration of the Russian Far East into China’s economic orbit remains a sensitive topic in Siberia, where there are fears of being subsumed by the larger, more-populous neighbor. Those hesitations have slowed progress on the development of a high-speed rail connection between China’s north and Russia’s Far East.
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