The Russia-China Economic Cooperation in the Vladimir Putin’s 4th Term : Focusing on the Far Eastern Russia

This paper aims to study the current status, achievements, and problems of economic cooperation between Russia and China in the Far East in the fourth term of Russian President Vladimir Putin (2018.05.08. - 2024.05.07.) through literature and statistical analysis. During Putin’s fourth term in office, trade and investment between Russia and China all increased except in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused difficulties. And due to the economic sanctions imposed by advanced Western countries following Russia-Ukrainian war Russia tried to ease the difficulty of reducing trade and investment with advanced Western countries by strengthening cooperation with China. The development of Russia in the Far East, which the Russian federal government must complete for the easing of the gap between its west and east and the balanced development, faced a situation in which Korea and Japan became more dependent on China as they partially joined Western economic sanctions against Russia and closed direct flights with Russia. However, investment by Chinese companies in the Far East Russia’s industry continues to be sluggish due to the lagging transportation and logistics system between the Far East Russia and China and the lack of skilled and sincere labor. In order for Russia to increase China’s investment in the Far East Russian industry, it is necessary to improve the investment environment in the TOR, expand the transportation and logistics infrastructure connecting the Far East Russia and China, and resolve difficulties in procuring skilled and sincere labor.