MINSK, 13 July (BelTA) – It will be difficult to overestimate China's role in the Belarusian economy in the near future, Nikolai Vavilov, sinologist, publicist, author of the Chinese Power book, said in an interview with the V Teme [On Point] online project on BelTA's YouTube channel, BelTA has learned.
The scholar noted that China has strategic interests in a number of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. “China has many interests in Russia's European part and in Kazakhstan. But Kazakhstan's market is small and is more about oil and some other resources. China tried to set up a deep water port in Georgia. Americans put up obstacles on the way of this project. So China left Georgia. China is trying to permeate all the CIS states with infrastructure projects,” Nikolai Vavilov said.
According to him, once Xi Jinping came to power, the trade and economic relations with Russia got a boost. “In 2010 only 10 transit trains from China to Europe crossed Russia. Now it is 10,000 trains. But the figure is too small, too. 10,000 trains make up about 2% of China's total traffic. We have a lot more work to do in this direction,” he is sure.
According to Nikolai Vavilov, the Belarusian economy will be largely focused on China in the next few years. "Belarus understands this and is actively working in this direction. Some major Belarusian enterprises have their focus on China. In general, it will difficult to overestimate the role of China in the Belarusian economy in the coming years. It will be even bigger than in Russia," Nikolai Vavilov summed up.
