Bejing has openly opposed the West-led economic sanctions on Russia while insisting it would maintain normal trade exchanges with the country despite its invasion of Ukraine. However, Chinese authorities have recently urged state-run companies to be cautious about their investment in Russia, due to fears it may also be subjected to similar sanctions.
The plan involved joining Sibur, Russia’s largest petrochemical producer, for a project similar to the $10 billion Amur Gas Chemical Complex in East Siberia, 40 percent owned by Sinopec and 60 percent owned by Sibur, Reuters said.
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece, Xinhua News, stated in December that the Amur Gas Chemical Complex is a key project for Sino-Russian investment cooperation.
A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Sinopec hit pause after realizing that Sibur minority shareholder and board member Gennady Timchenko had been sanctioned by the European Union and Britain last month, for being a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sibur has not responded to the Epoch Times’ request for comment by press time.
Insiders also told Reuters that Sinopec suspended talks over helping to market Russian gas producer Novatek’s natural gas in China “over concerns that Sberbank, one of Novatek’s shareholders, is on the latest U.S. sanctions list.”
According to Novatek’s official statement, Timchenko resigned from the company’s board of directors on his own accord on March 21, 2022. He used to have one of the largest stakes in the company.
Novatek did not respond to the issue of Sinopec’s suspension of negotiations in its reply to The Epoch Times, nor did it directly address the reasons for Timchenko’s resignation.
But a source in Russia told The Epoch Times that Novatek had not received any official statement or document from Sinopec on the suspension of the investment project.
Expert: A Divided CCP
Dr. Frank Tian Xie, John M. Olin Palmetto Chair Professor in Business and Professor of Marketing, told The Epoch Times on March 28 that Sinopec paused its $500 million investment in the Russian petrochemical plant, obviously as a result of opposite opinions within the CCP.According to Xie, the objection may come from anti-Xi Jinping factions, or it could arise from the opposition between the CCP’s central committee and the State Council. The two often differ in opinions on issues such as economic operations, government control, and the CCP’s undue regulation of economic activities.
The CCP’s central committee and the State Council are “likely to have different views and thoughts on the investment in Russian petrochemical project because the CCP’s State Council usually focuses on the impact on the Chinese economy,” he said.
“The U.S. government, government officials, and even President Biden himself have repeatedly warned that if the CCP supports Russia’s invasion or supplies Russia with military equipment, the sanctions against Russia by the European Union and the United States will extend to the CCP,” he said.
“For this reason, the CCP stopped investing in Russia. Moreover, the CCP may not think highly of Russia’s economic prospects.”
Party Scholars Urge Beijing to Cut Ties with Putin
On March 25, the China-U.S. Impression website published a commentary titled, “Looking forward to China Playing A More Positive Role in Bringing Peace between Russia and Ukraine. ”The author, Su Xiaoling, is the former editor-in-chief of the Chinese portal “Influence China” and a special researcher at the Beijing Reform and Development Research Association.
Su said that there is absolutely no justification or legitimacy for Russia to invade Ukraine and start a war that has resulted in a large number of civilian deaths.
Historically, the Chinese have never seen Ukrainians as enemies. In addition, China regards Ukraine as an important trading country, especially in military technology. China’s “Liaoning” aircraft carrier was purchased from Ukraine and was originally named Varyag. China is also a major importer of Ukrainian corn and barley, Su wrote.
On the contrary, “throughout the history of Sino-Russian relations, China has suffered from Russia’s [aggressiveness], as it is a clear fact that we lost a large area of our territory,” she continued.
Even in modern times, there have been frequent conflicts between China and Russia. “Russia oppressed China, still occupying Chinese territory, and at one point almost destroyed China with atomic bombs,” Su wrote.
Prior to Su’s commentary, another article by a CCP scholar sparked even more heated discussions.
The article, “Possible Results of the Russian-Ukrainian War and China’s Choice,” was written by Hu Wei, the vice-chairman of the Public Policy Research Center of the Counselor’s Office of the State Council and the chairman of the Shanghai Public Policy Research Association.
Hu wrote that the Russian-Ukrainian war will help the United States regain its leadership status in the Western world. The West will be more united, and the power of the West will increase significantly, Hu wrote.
If China—he wrote in referring to the CCP—does not take active action to adjust its stance, it will be further punished by the United States and the West.
China cannot be tied to Putin, and it needs to be cut ties as soon as possible, choose to stand with the mainstream in the world, Hu wrote.
Xie believes these voices from scholars within the CCP system reveal that the disagreements are symptomatic of the party’s infighting.
The pro-Russian faction is under strong pressure from the opposition faction, he said.
“China has indeed suffered a lot from Russia in the past,” Xie said.
“The CCP has also given Russia a large tract of territory. So under this circumstance, some of these remarks from anti-Russian Chinese will truly make the pro-Russians feel very uncomfortable. And the current situation indicates that the pro-Russian faction has to make a concession.”
