Opportunities thrive for Northeast China, Russia's Far East

Cooperation at the local level is an important aspect of Sino-Russian collaboration, such as deepening the alignment of Russia's Far East development policy with China's Northeast revitalization policy. Trade between Russia's Far East and China's northeastern provinces — Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning — is growing rapidly, and cross-border transportation infrastructure is improving apace.

According to Russian media, between 2014 and 2023, trade between Russia's Far East and China's northeastern provinces saw rapid growth, doubling over the decade to reach approximately $27 billion in 2023. Particularly notable is the significant trade volume between China's Heilongjiang province and Russian regions such as Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast, accounting for 70 percent of the northeastern Chinese provinces' trade with Russia.

The completion of key projects such as the Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye Railway Bridge and the Heihe-Blagoveshchensk Highway Bridge, as well as the Skovorodino-Mohe crude oil pipeline and the China-Russia East Pipeline, has deepened the two sides' cooperation, while local governments have established cooperation mechanisms such as the Intergovernmental Commission for Cooperation of Northeast China and the Far East and Baikal Region of Russia, as well as the Business Council of the Far East and Baikal Region of Russia and Northeast China. These mechanisms serve as organizational safeguards and communication platforms, facilitating project alignment, information exchange and issue resolution.