Why Russian President Visited Harbin During His Trip to China

Arriving in Harbin, the Russian President wanted to show that the Russia-China relationship is not only geopolitical .

During his state visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 17 arrived in Harbin, a northeastern Chinese city with deep cultural and historical ties to Russia, as part of efforts to boost growing economic and political ties between the two countries.

In the capital of China's northeastern Heilongjiang province bordering Russia's Far East, President Putin also visited the Harbin Institute of Technology, a joint research site between China and Russia and an institution with deep ties to China's military and defense industry.

While Mr Putin was given a red carpet treatment in Beijing and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Russian leader used his visit to Harbin to demonstrate that the Russia-China relationship runs deeper than the two leaders' shared goal of pushing back against the US and Western blockade.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend the opening ceremony of the 8th China-Russia Expo in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on May 17, 2024. Photo: THX/TTXVN

During a May 16 visit to Beijing, Mr. Putin praised China as Russia’s top trading partner—with trade soaring to $240 billion by 2023—and said the two countries had learned lessons from “the history of Russia-China relations at different stages of development” in an interview with the Xinhua news agency ahead of his visit.

Once nicknamed "Little Moscow", Harbin has strong ties to Tsarist Russia and was once home to tens of thousands of ethnic Russians, many of whom were settlers during the construction of the railway or evacuated to the city during the Russian civil war of 1917-22.

The region has become increasingly linked to Russia’s Far East in recent years as trade between Russia and China has grown. While much of the Orthodox architecture has been replaced, Harbin’s famous towering Saint Sophia Cathedral still stands in the city centre. Tourists from across China and Russia flock to Harbin for the annual Ice and Snow Festival.

The Harbin Institute of Technology that Putin visited has been a place for joint exchanges and research between China and Russia for more than a century and is also one of China's most important military research facilities.

Harbin Institute of Technology and six other peer universities provide about three-quarters of the engineering graduates recruited by Chinese defense companies, according to a study by Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

With defense industry reform and military cooperation with China at the heart of the visit, President Putin was accompanied by a large delegation of senior Russian officials – including newly appointed Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.

Since the leaders of Russia and China declared their bilateral strategic partnership “without limits” in February 2022, their friendship has been tested. Mr. Putin once declared that “Russian-Chinese relations have reached an all-time high, and even in the face of a serious international situation, relations between the two countries continue to strengthen.”

But China is facing growing diplomatic and economic pressure from the West over the conflict in Ukraine, with senior US officials warning of sanctions against banks in China and “significant consequences” for Chinese companies involved in supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.

So by visiting Harbin, Mr Putin is seeking to ease some of that pressure by showing that the Russia-China relationship is about more than just geopolitics.

Harbin is one of the busiest trade hubs between China and Russia. The withdrawal of Western brands from Russia following the conflict in Ukraine created a vacuum that was quickly filled by Chinese manufacturers, who now dominate the Russian market for everything from smartphones to home appliances.

According to Russian and Chinese customs data, the top six foreign car brands in Russia are all Chinese, with about 60% of new cars sold in Russia this year imported from China, nearly doubling their market share by 2022. China's Xiaomi and Tecno have eclipsed Apple and Samsung in the Russian smartphone market, and the Chinese yuan has become the most traded currency on the Moscow stock exchange.

In Harbin, Mr Putin is keen to highlight those growing ties by visiting a Sino-Russian trade fair and an economic forum aimed at further boosting trade ties between the two countries.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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