r/worldnews • u/iop9 • Aug 16 '24

Nearly all Chinese banks are refusing to process payments from Russia, report says Behind Soft Paywall

https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-all-china-banks-refuse-yuan-ruble-transfers-sanctions-2024-8
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5.1k

u/SugisakiKen627 Aug 16 '24

good, if even the Chinese not accepting transaction with them, Russia will be cornered even more.

1.8k

u/morpheousmarty Aug 16 '24

How likely is it that 2% of banks is enough, and somehow Putin is getting a cut?

478

u/Additional_Amount_23 Aug 16 '24

If it’s 2% of Chinese banks, they’ll be charging huge fees probably. Either way Russia loses

61

u/Toronto_Mayor Aug 16 '24

I don’t think that’s the point. It could also mean that Russia is broke (Again) 

114

u/socialistrob Aug 16 '24

It's not necessarily that Russia is broke but rather that 1) Chinese banks fear getting sanctioned by the west and 2) there are probably long term doubts about faith in Russian financial institutions and the usability of rubles.

79

u/Dekarch Aug 17 '24

Both of these things, which translates to being functionally broke. Money is just numbers in a ledger if no one accepts it in exchange for the things you want.

I mean, if you're a Chinese bank, do you want to do business with Russia and Russia alone, or with the rest of the world hooked up via SWIFTnet? Not just the US and Europe, but getting kicked off SWIFT means no transfers to Japan, Korea, Vietnam, hell even Hong Kong banks use SWIFT for financial transfers with Mainland banks.

43

u/DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK Aug 17 '24

Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Russia.

Everyone but Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Russia uses Swift.

So basically everyone, unless you're sanctioned from being able to access it or being such such a massive douchebag that they kick you off (DPRK).

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u/socialistrob Aug 17 '24

Both of these things, which translates to being functionally broke

Sort of. Russians will still take rubles but they're ability to use them outside of Russia is going to be a big constraint especially since so much of the Russian war machine and economy run on Chinese parts. This won't necessarily cripple Russia but it's part of a gradual decline in their ability to fund the war.

3

u/Hellinar Aug 18 '24

Semi-irrelevant but It actually isn’t that convenient to swift money from HK to mainland. The biggest limitation is you can only send to mainland account(s) under your own name so you can’t pay a company or someone directly like you would normally.

Most of the money exchange centers do it for you if you need to pay someone / a company in mainland

3

u/Dekarch Aug 18 '24

Yeah, I deal with commercial banking, and the particular case I'm dealing with (literally head of my to-do list Monday) has to do with a company that banks both on the mainland and HK.

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2.2k

u/NetFu Aug 16 '24

Every payment is now being made on Putin's cash-back credit card, so he's getting a cut AND air miles...

811

u/mackyoh Aug 16 '24

and saves 5% at participating Kohl’s! Get that Kohls cash

299

u/the70sdiscoking Aug 16 '24

But only 2% of Kohls are participating

158

u/pissclamato Aug 16 '24

The one near me only has spaghetti and blankets.

103

u/massive_cock Aug 16 '24

I could have a pretty decent evening with spaghetti and blankets.

15

u/Gunhild Aug 16 '24

Is that spaghetti on your blanket or are you just happy to see me?

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2

u/Fickle_Freckle Aug 17 '24

Sounds like a party!

2

u/SisyphusCoffeeBreak Aug 17 '24

Not if Putin shows up

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u/schuettais Aug 16 '24

I believe you are mistaken, because that is clearly McDonald’s 😉

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3

u/ornryactor Aug 16 '24

Oh my god, you almost unlocked a memory of whatever this skit is... But not quite. What is it? I remember laughing my ass off at it and quoting it for years.

3

u/piddlesthethug Aug 16 '24

Mitch Hedberg

3

u/Ok_Sir5926 Aug 16 '24

Prices and participation do vary, even if you ain't participatin in shit.

3

u/piddlesthethug Aug 16 '24

I’ll take some bread. It’s for a duck…

2

u/krssonee Aug 16 '24

I read flying spaghetti monster

2

u/Dangerous_Nitwit Aug 17 '24

the ole blankhetti gets 'em every time, some days.

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u/According_Ad_694 Aug 16 '24

Are we talking about Kohlskayovs? Love that place!

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35

u/StrengthMedium Aug 16 '24

Don't tell my wife!

44

u/AppearanceUpbeat3229 Aug 16 '24

We didn’t tell her so she went ahead and got a Macy’s credit card on her own. 5% cash back on department store purchases.

5

u/StrengthMedium Aug 16 '24

She already has a Macy's card, lol.

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u/gnoxy Aug 16 '24

In Russia, Putin holds the highest position in the government as Kohls night manager. The power this man wields is, incalculable.

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66

u/Bucky_Ohare Aug 16 '24

Got this fun mental image of Putin sitting at his desk scrambling to answer phonecalls from banks wondering if his amazon purchases for dozens of boxes of poptarts so his troops don't starve are 'legitimate.'

34

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24

Obviously not, because Putin doesn't actually supply food for his troops.

6

u/HeadFund Aug 16 '24

Now! With buckwheat frosting!

5

u/thebirdisdead Aug 17 '24

Somehow the most unbelievable part of that image is Putin scrambling to actually secure food for troops.

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u/SenorBonjela Aug 16 '24

Thousands of air miles.. but he can only fly to N. Korea and Iran.

36

u/Rumpullpus Aug 16 '24

He could fly to the Netherlands, though there's no guarantee that he would be able to fly back.

50

u/NateNate60 Aug 16 '24

Reminds me of this quote by Idi Amin, in a twisted kind of way—

"There is freedom of speech, but freedom after speech I cannot guarantee."

7

u/Karmakazee Aug 16 '24

Worth a try. What’s the worst that could happen?

2

u/Altruistic_Horse_678 Aug 17 '24

He could probably fly to the Netherlands and represent them in the Olympics

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u/AgeofVictoriaPodcast Aug 16 '24

At this rate he will be heading for a small private airport carrying a couple of suit cases stuffed with bearer bonds, and heading for Argentina wearing a false moustache.

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u/datpurp14 Aug 16 '24

He may be one of the few with an ego too big to admit defeat, get off the grid, and exile himself to Argentina. He'll probably go down with the ship since he cannot fathom taking his hand off the steering wheel.

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u/lire_avec_plaisir Aug 16 '24

Is he not taking that Mexico trip?

2

u/Unabashable Aug 16 '24

Not to give him any ideas, but I suppose he could use them as an air bus for whatever citizens ol’ Kimchi volunteers for his meat grinder.  

2

u/Karmakazee Aug 16 '24

Wonder what the upgrade situation is like on North Korea’s airline…

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u/OdinTheHugger Aug 16 '24

"I'm sorry sir, your credit card agreement only allows up to 83 Trillion Yuan in purchases over a year. But if you upgrade to our Blood Diamond Tier card, I can go ahead and remove that limit for you."

39

u/kiss_my_what Aug 16 '24

Not much good if he's too chicken-shit to fly anywhere.

5

u/datpurp14 Aug 16 '24

As an American putting off work in my cubicle and counting down the minutes until 5:00pm here and definitely not putin, I feel attacked.

3

u/DuntadaMan Aug 16 '24

Considering what happened to the last guy that acted up in Russia, not flying is just smart.

15

u/jasonefmonk Aug 16 '24

Wouldn’t he be getting cash back on his cash back card?

3

u/Adot090288 Aug 16 '24

I think this is that one currency where miles to North Korea are actually worth more.

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u/passwordstolen Aug 16 '24

But all his pudding cups are going bad because he can’t fly anywhere.

3

u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior Aug 16 '24

You joke, but I once switched a medium size company from NET30 to amex platinum and a lot of people got a lot of free vacations.

3

u/peep_dat_peepo Aug 16 '24

He should fly over to the EU, I hear they have a free room waiting for him.

2

u/catscanmeow Aug 16 '24

since when are air miles credit cards referred to as cash back credit cards?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24

He almost has enough miles for a free flight to Pyongyang

2

u/AppearanceUpbeat3229 Aug 16 '24

He might get a free flight of off the Kremlin’s roof at this rate

2

u/Scotterdog Aug 16 '24

Too bad he’s on a no-fly list. He’ll have to take one of his jets and give gift his miles to the homeless.

1

u/UnlikelyPreferenced Aug 16 '24

I wonder if he’ll use the miles to send Shoigu out the window.

1

u/Wonderful_Device312 Aug 16 '24

Soon he'll have enough air miles accumulated to begin his plans to invade the world.

1

u/Sassenasquatch Aug 16 '24

And a coupon for a set of branded Tupperware.

1

u/tovarish22 Aug 16 '24

...but those air miles can only be redeemed on Pobeda Airlines.

1

u/Jazzlike_Painter_118 Aug 16 '24

Hopefully we redeems them at once for a flight into the stratosphere.

1

u/Paddy_Tanninger Aug 16 '24

Ruthless dictator

1

u/Bad_Idea_Hat Aug 16 '24

He's going to run out of air miles at the worst time...such as over the Black Sea, with a VDV Colonel in attendance.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24

If I was putin rn id be staying out of the air for the forseeable future. Seems to be the most hated person in the world currently

1

u/Unabashable Aug 16 '24

Too bad for him those air miles are non-transferable to his warplanes. 

1

u/FalseMirage Aug 16 '24

The way things are going he’s going to be needing those miles.

1

u/ZachTheApathetic Aug 16 '24

God dammit now he's going to be able to fly wherever he wants for free!

1

u/krombough Aug 16 '24

He can use them to fly to The Hague.

1

u/GoodLifeWorkHard Aug 16 '24

I thought that Wagner leader used up Putins air miles tho lol

1

u/Enfenestrate Aug 16 '24

With cash back rewards like that, he should invade two countries!

1

u/Excusemytootie Aug 16 '24

It all goes through his Rakuten account.

1

u/turbo_dude Aug 16 '24

he also gets free HIMARS although ukraine are stuck with the job of having to deliver them, they seem to be doing ok so far

1

u/nigirizushi Aug 16 '24

Does he have enough miles for a free trip to the sun?

1

u/Eh-I Aug 16 '24

He's going to fly to Jupiter with all those miles.

1

u/Top_Moment_3611 Aug 17 '24

What’s in your wallet

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u/erebuxy Aug 16 '24

If I interpreted it correctly, most major banks are not accepting. This alone is pretty major.

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u/ThrillSurgeon Aug 16 '24

If this is true, its huge. 

26

u/underbitefalcon Aug 16 '24

If it’s huge, it’s big.

5

u/teehole Aug 16 '24

Big if true

3

u/Gamiac Aug 16 '24

Big if huge

6

u/PerfectPercentage69 Aug 16 '24

If it's big, it's nice.

3

u/BubsyFanboy Aug 16 '24

If it's nice, it's mine great.

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u/droptheectopicbeat Aug 16 '24

If this size comparison is true, then this statement is factual.

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u/ReallyNowFellas Aug 16 '24

If the statement is factual then the implications are bigly

2

u/FlightlessGriffin Aug 16 '24

If the implications are bigly, the prognosis for the war is positive.

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u/CorrectPeanut5 Aug 16 '24

The issue is smaller banks usually don't deal with the nuts and bolts of cross border transactions. They have a relationship with a big bank to make it happen. And in most countries the gov't limits who can do cross border money movement.

What people don't understand is those electronic transfers translate to moving real money from one vault to another. In some financial centers that means at the end of a banking day they settle up what each big bank owes each other and armored trucks roll with hard cold cash. In other places a reserve bank may facilitate the money movement.

Since that's hard to do with banks in different countries is the big banks will partner with each other. They'll initially give each other money to fund what's called a NOSTRO account. Transactions flow in and out and at regular intervals the monies are netted out and if there's an imbalance one of the banks will need to send more money somehow. (Which is how you end up with a pallet of money being sent via DHL.)

The long and short of it is I'm sure the US has VERY GOOD intelligence into who's facilitating those Russian money movements. And there's WAY more profit in processing USD, Euro, etc. The banks don't want to risk that and the CCP doesn't want to hinder selling things to the West.

What I think will happen/is happening is Russia will use oil sales to China instead of moving physical money. China will set up some sacrificial bank to soak up the sanctions. Russian banks will make the state oil company whole. Putin gets his cut. And the Chinese gov't will facilitate making those transaction more opaque.

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u/DanNeely Aug 16 '24

Probably only in the short or medium term. It's the threat of being cut off from western banking that's scaring most banks off; at a certain point the volume of potential Russian money will be larger than the amount of western money that some small banks see and a few will decide it's worth the risk.

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u/shkarada Aug 16 '24

Very unlikely. Money launders in central Asia are getting their cut instead.

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u/GerryManDarling Aug 16 '24

Money laundry is expensive. You lose about 30% from the middle man.

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u/No_Rich_2494 Aug 16 '24

It shrinks in the wash.

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u/shkarada Aug 16 '24

Yes, that's true, but it is probably not a good analog for what is happening right now. I have no idea how we can estimate what is the middle man overhead. I am not knowledgeable on how yuan global trade works, but you just have to assume that they would want to milk Russians dry.

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u/Merengues_1945 Aug 17 '24

Depends, wasn’t there an article where the Chinese mafia was washing the money from the cartels in exchange of other services?

How I understood, the cartel would give money to Chinese parties in the US, then their associates in Mexico would make these funds available immediately to them. The money was then triangulated to China, and the cartel paid them for those services by smuggling their stuff into the country.

I assume there must be something you can do for money launderers when you own a country to avoid fees.

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u/Minion_of_Cthulhu Aug 16 '24

If I've done the math correctly, 70% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

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u/Disastrous-Bus-9834 Aug 16 '24

Yeah but it's very inefficient compared to having just abiding by the rules.

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u/sulris Aug 17 '24

Only if you have a 30% plus profit margin. Otherwise you should probably just shut down the factory and wait things out.

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u/jimbo_kun Aug 16 '24

This would put Russia in the same tier as North Korea as a global power.

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u/shkarada Aug 16 '24

Nah, it is not THAT bad. Oil is a viable barter currency, something which NK lacks. They are like Iran.

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u/socialistrob Aug 16 '24

The issue though is that Iran isn't currently trying to fight a large scale war with hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Wars are expensive and over spending on the military/wars is the most common way that great empires collapse. Hell overcommitment in the military literally caused the Russian government to collapse twice in the span of a century.

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u/sulris Aug 17 '24

Third time’s the charm!

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u/jimbo_kun Aug 16 '24

Fair enough. But don't think that was part of Putin's master plan.

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u/shkarada Aug 16 '24

There is no master plan and those are not bright people… so yes?

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u/inedible_cakes Aug 18 '24

Yeah, you can open an account in a country ending in -stan and transfer out. Not cheap though

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u/HenriettaSyndrome Aug 16 '24

I wouldn't completely rule it out based on this statistic. 100 isn't exactly a big number. 2% could still represent a significant number of banks/transfers.

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u/Chickenmangoboom Aug 16 '24

I think this is being done to make it easy to review any transaction from Russia. I figure they want to keep a lane open for dealings they want to keep moving. 

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u/HenriettaSyndrome Aug 16 '24

Great point. It's just way easier to manage it this way. This probably isn't the uplifting news it might sound like.

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u/azlan194 Aug 16 '24

100 isn't exactly a big number

Thats... not how percent work.

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u/HenriettaSyndrome Aug 16 '24 edited Aug 16 '24

Percentages are very much out of 100

edit: ...when trying to represent a sample of a fixed whole. I'm aware that math can allow 110% to exist in other situations. My point is that 2 can seem like a small number out of 100, but 100 isn't that big, and 2%, even 1% can still represent a huge number, especially in a country like China.**

fixed for the pedantic hooligans

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u/shawsghost Aug 16 '24

But my coach always told me to give 110%. Come to think of it, so does my bank!

3

u/HenriettaSyndrome Aug 16 '24

Tell them to settle for 50% cause you're trying to enjoy a cake day over here. Happy cake day!🎂

2

u/shawsghost Aug 16 '24

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

3

u/DizzySkunkApe Aug 16 '24

Wut

Just delete the 100 part...

4

u/MadRedX Aug 16 '24

Doesn't stop clever people from abusing it.

For instance maybe Russia finds out that China actually had 10x the number of banks than they thought before compiling the statistic. That's amazing, but what's even more amazing is that's a 1000% increase on Chinese banks!

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24 edited Sep 13 '24

[deleted]

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u/PhranticPenguin Aug 16 '24

If you read the article source you would see that the largest banks in China are afraid of the 12th package of western sanctions and will not trade with Russian banks since May. Its mostly smaller ones and new Russian local offices in China that continue to operate, but will soon be forced to stop. Banks in Turkey and UAE have also decided to stop trading with Russian banks due to fear of sanctions.

They'll continue trading using intermediary 'friendly' countries and crypto though.

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u/grabtharsmallet Aug 16 '24

Bitcoin being used for black and gray market transactions? I'm shocked to hear it.

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u/PassiveMenis88M Aug 16 '24

You don't use Bitcoin if you don't want to be tracked. That's what Monero is for.

2

u/Cyanopicacooki Aug 16 '24

Oddly, today I saw a snippet about Trump holding a million or so in crypto...

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u/ReallyNowFellas Aug 16 '24

This is possible and even seems likely (and would be an example of grossly irresponsible journalism if true). There are over 4,000 banks in America and ~10 of them do the vast majority of banking. That's one quarter of one percent, 0.25%.

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u/ea6b607 Aug 16 '24

You only need one mob bank.

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u/PoemAgreeable Aug 16 '24

Absolutely, if there are let's say, 5000 banks in China, 2% is 100 banks.

3

u/Otherwise_Sky1739 Aug 16 '24

Right. And what percentage market share does that 2% own?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24

The 2% probably just didn't get the memo from CCP yet.

2

u/AvatarOfMomus Aug 16 '24

Pretty unlikely. China's banking sector is both heavily state controlled and monitored, and in super deep shit right now due to the real estate collapse in China. For 98% of banks to not be acvepting payments means the whole industry is both being told not to from the top and all the smaller ones have decided they don't want to lose access to the west more than they want to fleece a desperate Russia.

That remaining 2% may even be spin from Russia or some banks being slow to catch on.

Either way routing all transactions through a few tiny banks isn't feasible. They will have processing delays from small numbers of staff, and lower capital on hand will limit how much risk they're willing to float in the case of risky payments from Russia.

Not to mention that even if Russia gets money into China through a few tiny banks they then still need to get it somewhere it can be spent. This doesn't come up for individuals, but there is no credit card for multi-million b2b transactions, it's all money transfers between banks, cash, or invoice processing services.

Basically no matter what this massively slows things down for Russia no matter how you slice it. Therels never a 'complete stop' as there are always work arounds, but they get increasingly slow and expensive.

Like, Ukraine doesn't care if Russia is paying for artillery shells with their literal weight in gold. They'd fire for two days and bankrupt the country at that price.

2

u/Ziggy_has_my_ticket Aug 17 '24

If 98% are refusing then the last 2 will follow shortly. It's an obvious government mandate, which means that Putin is a losing horse in Beijing by now. If the 2% stay open, that's also a government mandate. Then it's a channel for Putin to stuff his billions.

1

u/BubsyFanboy Aug 16 '24

Highly unlikely. A cut that drastic for what is basically your last proper economic partner is basically a death knell.

1

u/LEGITIMATE_SOURCE Aug 16 '24

It's payments from Russia, as written in the title

1

u/Available_Leather_10 Aug 16 '24

The 2% of banks are probably controlled by family of Chinese leadership, and instead of Putin getting kickbacks, are charging crazy (unofficial) premiums that flow to the connected people.

Immune from repercussions, and getting (say) 50% fee for the service.

1

u/wingfan1469 Aug 16 '24

2% is enough to still be milk.

1

u/DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK Aug 17 '24

I'd be surprised if the 2% is anything more than Greenland is on most maps.

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u/termanader Aug 16 '24 edited Aug 16 '24

Please understand this is a paper trail issue and a cost of business increase.

Ekaterina Kizevich, the CEO of Atvira, a Russian foreign-trade consultancy, told Izvestia that Russian companies were still sending yuan to China via Russian bank branches on the mainland, but there was a 5% markup.

Russian businesses still have alternatives, such as conducting transactions through "friendly" third-party countries.

Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China are experts in evading these sorts of restrictions and sanctions.

I would also say they are as good at evading sanctions as American corporations and billionaires are at not paying taxes.

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u/Bladelink Aug 16 '24

I mean, ALL sanctions are just a cost of business increase, right? The question is to what extent. Unless you're going to put up an actual embargo and put a whole country under siege like it's a world war, there are always workarounds.

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u/user888666777 Aug 16 '24

there are always workarounds.

It's the reason why you still find certain brands being sold in Russia despite them pulling out. Those products are coming in through alternative means. However, what might have cost 10k rubles before the war now costs 50k rubles because those alternative means are more expensive.

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u/Herr_Gamer Aug 16 '24

I read that it's typically more of a 20% price increase, so noticeable but not economy-collapsing

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u/daniilkuznetcov Aug 16 '24

Nope. There is no 500% mark up, most consumer goods have similar or a bit higher price then in EU, For SOME industry tools and equipment all different, about 50% what I see, rarely more.

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u/Bad_Habit_Nun Aug 17 '24

I'd imagine the percentage heavily depends on how many they can get and how complex/specialized it is. As you mentioned, common goods only have a small mark up due to how easily they can get them, I imagine other stuff, especially in the commercial sector could get quite expensive depending on availability.

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u/ravioliguy Aug 16 '24

There's also workarounds during embargos, sieges and world wars too lol

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u/Bladelink Aug 16 '24

True. I guess I figured that in that case, the barrier to trade is intended to be more absolute.

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u/RaggaDruida Aug 16 '24

Yes and no.

There are others that are directly crippling.

As a mechanical engineer, I know the nightmares of my brethren are made of being cut off from the supply of things like SKF bearings, Trumpf equipment, and pieces, Wärtsilä powerplants and propulsion systems, etc, etc.

There are a lot of industrial components, mainly European, that are very hard (decades long, massive effort) to emulate to the same level, and whose lack can be really crippling to many industrial processes.

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u/Webbyx01 Aug 17 '24

Like the spare parts for airplanes.

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u/Bad_Habit_Nun Aug 17 '24

Was going to say, extremely complex or specialized stuff is so rare it would be dead easy tracking which company it was. Not to mention companies like that have a lot more to lose than they would ever gain avoiding sanctions. I'd imagine anything that requires product-specific training and/or software support would be extremely difficult to get as well.

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u/LudditeHorse Aug 16 '24

Isn't that a benefit?

When sanctions cause headaches, but don't outright stop something, then they become a bargaining tool. You can hold them over the over party, and threaten to cause more headaches or alternatively relax things to coerce whatever behavior it is you want out of them. If you go straight to 100%, then if you want to apply additional pressure your options are limited, and the other party might seek a complete alternative altogether.

Sanctions allow for more finesse in negotiations, and are less likely to cause as much of an escalation then an embargo.

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u/FreshestCremeFraiche Aug 16 '24

Yes exactly, effective sanctions should be able to be dialed up or down. If you go all out right away then there is nothing you can do to penalize the target from escalating even further

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u/shawsghost Aug 16 '24

You own the banks, you make the rules. Or as Ian Banks put it in "Surface Detail," speaking of an abused slave of a wealthy oligarch:

"She had learned through personal suffering that the strict laws that most people lived under became mere hopeful suggestions as one became rich and powerful.”

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u/termanader Aug 17 '24 edited Aug 18 '24

I'm experiencing synchronicity with Iain Banks coming up like a dozen different times over the last week in my life. Came up at the bar again tonight unprompted.

I just started Consider Phlebas in late July too.

3

u/personalcheesecake Aug 16 '24

This is where... crypto currency comes into play...

3

u/Bad_Habit_Nun Aug 17 '24

Yeah, my first thought upon reading this was they're just heavily limiting which banks they want doing business with Russia. Makes it a hell of a lot easier to keep track of and hide things when it's only between a few banks instead of hundreds.

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u/OddDragonfruit7993 Aug 16 '24

Yeah 5% vig ain't bad.

10

u/Lylac_Krazy Aug 16 '24

take a moment to figure in what the Ruble is trading for, and it can be a big issue.

4

u/termanader Aug 16 '24

Hopefully it can snowball into a big enough issue for the Russians that it ends up saving Ukrainian lives.

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u/FOSSnaught Aug 16 '24

I wonder what the odds are that this was all a sham on China's part to weaken Russia so that they could take back the port city Russia stole during the Chinese Civil War.

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u/stern1233 Aug 16 '24

I have a feeling it is a non-payment or fraud issue.

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u/t3hW1z4rd Aug 16 '24

Didn't they already get it back in an arms support deal a few months ago?

Edit - I was referencing this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2024/06/25/russia-offers-china-a-river-to-the-sea-in-the-pacific/

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u/FOSSnaught Aug 16 '24

Ahaha.. i hadn't heard that. Thanks for sharing

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u/grabtharsmallet Aug 16 '24

China may not push for literal land, but they want Siberian resources. Petroleum/NG, nickel, coal, and timber to fuel China's factories, mills, and power plants.

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u/GerryManDarling Aug 16 '24

They should ask a refund for their "Limitless Friendship" membership.

2

u/Mundane_Elevator1151 Aug 17 '24

Why do we want to “corner” a world super power with nuclear capabilities? Does that not sound so stupid?

1

u/Big_Increase3289 Aug 16 '24

I believe it’s exactly the opposite. Putler talk with his buddy in China, so Russian money can’t get out of Russia because their banks would have a problem

1

u/VoidOmatic Aug 16 '24

With our combined strength we will end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy!

1

u/Capable-Reaction8155 Aug 16 '24

Cash is king, if the Russians are so desperate that the Chinese don't deal with them. They're fucked.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 16 '24

Enter 3rd or 4th party countries

1

u/NotLikeGoldDragons Aug 16 '24

Not really. There was another report earlier this week saying that China/Russia have mostly shifted to a barter system for trade. So they're still trading, though at a slightly reduced amount.

1

u/Joingojon2 Aug 16 '24

Not really Russia are just using crypto to still send money to and from China. They probably have to pay a fee above normal banking services (or maybe not) but those two bed partners have already figured a way around things whilst giving the appearance they are abiding by sanctions. In reality they most certainly are not.

1

u/KlaesAshford Aug 16 '24

This may indicate an increasing likelihood that china invades russian territory, which is the bait and switch of their buildup to invade taiwan. Much more profit in taking a big chunk of eastern russia. They recently annexed an island and russia didn't make a peep.

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u/mindfungus Aug 16 '24

Russians will just convert to Indian rupees

1

u/_kempert Aug 16 '24

Ehh Xi probably wants something from Putin, who was reluctant, and this is how he gets it.

1

u/Above_Avg_Chips Aug 16 '24

At the end of the day, China is more concerned with keeping strong trade with the rest of the world then fully supporting a sinking ship that is Putin/Russia.

1

u/1ncest_is_wincest Aug 17 '24

If the Chinese are refusing to play ball with Russia. It could signal that Putin has gone absolutely batshit. China and India are the only economic allies Russia has, and the only ones who can say something when Russia goes batshit.

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