Trainloads of Siberian lumber cross China’s border, ready to be sliced and polished into furniture components and chopsticks. Truckloads of Russian rapeseed come across to be crushed for canola oil. And at a palatial used car showroom, Russians buy late-model used cars to send back to their hometowns.
As is visible in Manzhouli, China’s main border crossing with Russia, the two countries’ economies are increasingly intertwined.
China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil, timber and coal, and it will soon be the biggest buyer of Russian natural gas. Trade between the two countries exceeded $240 billion last year, up two-thirds since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. China has supplied many of the drones and drone components used by Russia in the conflict.
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