Development of economic cooperation between Russian regions and China

Active formation of the regional foreign policy of states and international relations determines the relevance of studying regions’ international relations. The purpose for this article is to examine the extent and forms of economic cooperation of Russian constituent entities and China. Currently, the Russian-Chinese cooperation covers various areas including interaction at the highest political level, trade-economic and humanitarian relations, cooperation in the international arena, participation in international organizations, etc. One of the important elements of cooperation is regional bonds. In scientific literature, the Russian-Chinese cooperation in its regional dimension remains under-researched, the emphasis here is put mainly on cross-border cooperation. The informational framework for the research includes data from the World Bank, Federal State Statistics Service, Federal Customs service of Russia, official web sites of federal and regional state authorities, electronic media. It is noted that in recent years, Russian-Chinese cooperation more actively involves Russian regions. In general, more than 70 Russian constituent entities are involved in various forms of cooperation with China. The most intense and multilateral are ties with regions adjacent to the border of the two countries. Economic relations between Russian regions and China are not only limited to mutual trade. There are 3 main cooperation areas: regions’ participation in the implementation of major infrastructure projects; cooperation of groups of regions in the framework of major intergovernmental agreements; separate agreements and projects of Russian constituent entities with the Chinese partners. It is concluded that despite certain difficulties caused by various reasons (organizational, legal, financial, economic, etc.), the performance of cooperation of Russian regions and China can be assessed as positive with serious prospects. Amid the changing international situation and economic sanctions of Western countries against Russia the interest of Russian regions in cooperation with China will increase. The result of further cooperation intensification will include both completion of ongoing and planned projects and implementation of new production and infrastructure projects taking into account mutual interests of business entities, population and state.