The Belt And Road Forum: View From Russia

The Belt and Road Forum For International Cooperation kicked off in Beijing with great pomp. It was supposed to quash the rumors about China trying to drag other countries into its sphere of influence. But while this meeting certainly provided plenty of good pictures of Asian autocrats talking together, Alexander Gabuev, a specialist on the Russian-Chinese relationship from Carnegie Endowment, doesn't see it as consequential. China has been investing in transport infrastructure in the region before, and some projects that are sold as the Silk Road's greatest achievements, like the Gwadar port in Pakistan, were started in the last decade, long before the Silk Road's official revival.

Where does Russia come into this? It certainly is far behind Europe , Australia, and the US — in 2016, only 2% of Chinese investments went into its economy. And it is not likely that Chinese banks will pour a lot of money into Russia now: its poor investment climate is a big disadvantage, and the banks themselves have become more cautious after nearly avoiding a financial crisis in 2015.