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China’s Xuanyuan Group Announces Second Major Deal To Develop Amur-Heilongjiang Border with Siberia
Sept. 17, 2023, (EIRNS)—China’s Xuanyuan Group Industrial Development company plans to build a massive logistics hub in the Amur Region in Russia’s Far East, as freight turnover between the two countries has more than doubled over the past year, the RT reported on Sept. 15. Last week the Xuanyuan Group announced another big deal in Amur, at the annual Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
This latest deal is to build a hub located between the city of Tongjiang in China’s Heilongjiang province and its neighboring town in Russia, Nizhneleninskoye, to facilitate Russia-China cargo transfers.
According to the Xuanyuan Group, the $600-700 million project envisages the construction of a terminal for storage and transportation of hazardous and nonhazardous goods, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas, aviation fuel, helium, and others.
Xuanyuan CEO Hailong Xue said, “The location of this hub is very important as it will be right between our borders. There is a narrow stretch between our frontiers which makes cargo transfer rather problematic. But, with our project, we estimate that freight transportation will reach 10 million tons annually.” He expects cargo traffic between Russia and China to increase fourfold in the next few years.
On Sept. 10 the Xuanyuan Group for Industrial Development revealed plans to create a high-tech industrial park in Russia’s Amur region. The Xuanyuan Group signed a declaration of intent with the Amur Region Investment Attraction Agency to invest up to 10 billion rubles ($102 million) in the industrial park, creating over 400 jobs and bringing in new technology. The Xuanyuan park is intended to produce robots, 3D printers, drones, wind turbine blades, storage and transportation tanks for LNG and helium, and other technological goods.
Amur region lies across the Amur-Heilongjiang River from China’s Heilongjiang province. On July 31, with much fanfare, the first Chinese cargo train crossed into Russia over a new Amur-Heilongjiang River bridge. The Russian Direct Investment Fund funded some of the construction of the 2,209 meter bridge.
The rail bridge and the two latest Xuanyuan deals foreshadow much broader China-Russia collaboration in Russia’s Far East, overlapping India’s intentions in this area.
India ‘Going North’ in Infrastructure Development in Siberia, Far East
Sept. 17, 2023, (EIRNS)—In a meeting Sept. 13 on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, India and Russia discussed cooperation in development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR, ports and shipping along the shore of the Arctic Ocean in Siberia) and what is called the Eastern Maritime Corridor between Vladivostok and Chennai (the state capital of Tamil Nadu in southern India). The Hindu reported Sept. 14 that immediately, “Indian seafarers will be trained on Polar and Arctic waters at the Russian Maritime Training Institute in Vladivostok, which is equipped with simulators.”
The head of the Indian team at the meeting, Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, announced the formation of an “India-Russia Joint Maritime Commission to facilitate constructive discussion on various issues regarding development of the NSR.” He said India wants a partnership to develop it “for enhanced connectivity and trade.”
The next step, Sonowal said, is that a “workshop in Chennai will discuss the operationalization of the EMC, and … trade and transport of commodities such as coking coal, oil, and liquefied natural gas along this corridor.” Russia has been invited to attend the Global Maritime India Summit 2023 in Mumbai, on Oct. 17-19.
Russian Minister for Development of the Far East and Arctic Aleksey Chekunkov, in his statement, added fertilizers to the products for trade through the two corridors, as their development progresses in Russia’s Far East. He also said Russia wanted to expand the scope of this partnership to include development between Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.
New Massive Protest Demo against Pro-NATO Government in Czech Republic
Sept. 17, 2023, (EIRNS)—A Czech source reported today that more than a 100,000 protesters gathered in Prague yesterday, demanding the immediate resignation of the Fiala government, which is a puppet of NATO and the EU. It was organized by the PRO party, in which P is “P-pravo” which is rights, and R is “Respect” and O is “Odbornost” which is “Knowledge of facts.” The demo’s leader is a lawyer Jindrich Rajchi, PhD, who is well respected, as were other ten professionals who spoke.
This new government leadership has taken over, after the previous leaders Vrobel and Havel had to leave because of a scandal and split. It means this is a very strong anti-establishment movement in Czechia. The demo speeches were as always very programmatic, with a headmaster taking up the EU mismanagement of the school system. Another speaker protested the EU-protected speculation driving up electricity prices five times as the cheap national power is traded on the power exchange in Leipzig, Germany. The EU policy of blocking Russian oil means that the same oil is now bought on the black market at three times the original price. There was an absolute rejection of allowing any U.S. military bases. A new speaker took up the situation In Africa, addressing the resistance to threats from France, NATO and ECOWAS to invade Niger. She also mentioned the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg. All this was subject to discussions as the demonstration continued after marching to a major Prague park where several smaller meetings were held.
Very important also for the Czech movement is the election on Sept. 30 in neighboring Slovakia, where their sister party SMER, under the leadership of Robert Fico, challenges Bratislava’s very pro-NATO government there. Fico is, just as Rajchi, very much on the line of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. In solidarity with their Slovakian brothers, the big demonstration in Prague ended with singing the national anthem, but this time, the old Czechoslovakian anthem from when the two nations were united.
There is a four-hour video from the demonstration and march.
