China Loses To Japan Over Siberian Oil Pipeline
Japan's lobbying of the Russian leadership has appeared
to triumph, and China has virtually conceded that the
new Transiberian oil pipeline will not go to Daqing in
northern China, but will instead go to Nakhodka, a Siberian
port on the Pacific.
The two Asian government's lobbied
intensely for the pipeline, as China and Japan are
jockeying to supply their domestic energy needs. China
has been particularly aggressive in the past year in locking
down agreements for energy.
In 2003, China became the world's second largest importer
of oil, after the US.
Earlier, China had lobbied Yukos,
Russia's second-largest oil supplier, to build a pipeline
to China. But things took a turn when its president and
chairman was arrested by Russian president Putin for tax
evasion, and thrown into jail.
The Japanese government then mobilized Japanese businesses
to lobby the Russian government to build the pipeline
to Nakhodka, which is just a short distance from western
Japan. Without saying so publicly, the Japanese implied
that it would be in the Russian's own best interests if
their oil pipeline and deliveries did not end in China,
but in a Russian port.
This, they argued, would support the economic development
of Siberia and help to build business relations with all
the countries of Asia, instead of just China.
While the Chinese government is disappointed, it believes
that it can still benefit from the Nakhodka route.
Siberia has begun to show early signs of economic development,
and has immense natural resources which have never been
developed. Over the past 15 years, with the easing of
relations between Russia and China, large numbers of Chinese
have moved into Siberia, rising from less than 5,000 in
1989 to more than 3 million. Most Chinese investments
are concentrated in trade and small businesses.
For Russians living in Siberia, the preferred first foreign
language for middle school students is now Mandarin Chinese,
and it is not unusual to hear it spoken in major cities
such as Vladivostok.
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