On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a successful trip to China that was marked by a range of major bilateral agreements. The most important was a long-awaited natural gas deal between Russian state-owned energy firm Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. But the significance of Putin’s trip goes far beyond energy. The deal, along with the others reached, highlights a major shift in Sino-Russian relations that has widespread geopolitical implications.

With Russia set to export some $400 billion worth of natural gas to China over the next 30 years, or approximately 38 billion cubic meters annually at $350 per thousand cubic meters, the deal is a good fit for both sides. China’s energy demands are rapidly escalating, while Russia is looking to further diversify its energy exports away from Europe. Moscow has been particularly eager to complete the deal with Beijing, since it will give it considerable leverage in its bitter, protracted energy talks with Europe and Ukraine. To sweeten the deal, Moscow proposed several changes to its energy tax and export structures and offered China a large stake in Gazprom’s liquefied natural gas project at Vladivostok. (China had already been awarded a stake in the Yamal LNG project run by Novatek, which is partly owned by Gazprom.)

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