Filenews 10 September 2022
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again sided with Russia, publicly and clearly, adopting Vladimir Putin's claims regarding Western sanctions and grain exports from Black Sea ports. Thus, given the support that China and its president, Xi Jinping, systematically and on various fronts have a strong anti-Western axis, de facto, with an eye on the geopolitical and economic geography of the "next day" and the undermining of the sovereignty of the United States.
It is no coincidence, in this light, that the three leaders will be in the same place next week – in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit will be held on 15 and 16 September.
It is noted that Erdoğan is expected to go there despite the fact that Turkey is not a member of this group, following an invitation addressed to him by Putin during their meeting in Sochi on August 5th. Under the circumstances that have been formed, it is not excluded that there will be – even on a symbolic level – a joint photo of Putin, Xi and Erdoğan, something that will certainly intensify the concerns in the staffs of the West, who will be in danger of being presented with a fait accompli.
"Putin is right"
In any case, the President of Turkey no longer seems to be even observing the pretexts theoretically imposed by the fact that his country is a member of NATO, as well as a candidate for accession to the European Union.
The statements he made yesterday from Zagreb prove the truth of the matter: "The fact that the shipments of grain are transported by ship to countries that apply the sanctions (against Moscow) annoys Mr. Putin. We want the exports to also concern Russian cereals and ports", he said characteristically – to add, essentially repeating the words of his Russian counterpart, that "the grains that come from this agreement unfortunately reach rich countries and not poor ones".
However, according to official data from the UN, under whose auspices the July agreement was signed, 28% of the cargoes carried by ships end up in low- and middle-income countries, such as Egypt, India, Iran and Sudan. Of the remaining quantity, 44% end up in rich countries, with 21% in Turkey and 7% in China.
"Marriage" with a dowry of gas
At the same time, as far as China is concerned, the focus is on two main fronts. On the one hand, the gradual replacement of the dollar by the yuan in its dealings with Russia (mainly in energy) and the circumvention of the international SWIFT trading system and, on the other hand, the construction of a pipeline comparable to Nord Stream 1 and 2 – the so-called Power of Siberia 2, which will be able to carry 50 billion cubic metres of gas per year – which will transport natural gas to the "heart" of the rising superpower, via Mongolia.
"We are in negotiations regarding the possible promotion of a major infrastructure project. I mean the supply of Russian gas to China through Mongolia," Putin himself said on Wednesday, at the Vladivostok Economic Forum, during a teleconference with the Prime Minister of the Central Asian country, Luvsanamsray Oyun-Erdene.
It is recalled that shortly before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia and China had signed a 30-year contract concerning natural gas, while the latter bought last year from Russia 16.5 billion cubic metres.
Despite the fact that this quantity is much smaller compared to the one exported to Europe, the operation of Power of Siberia 1 from 2019 and the construction of the second pipeline of the same name (by the end of the decade) are expected to make China the main market for Gazprom and the Kremlin for decades to come.
