China Is Strengthening Its Position in Siberia

russia is becoming increasingly economically dependent on China. Raw material projects in the Far East and Siberia are turning the region into a resource base for Beijing, while local communities are increasingly being left out of the promised benefits.

One key example is the Zashulanskoye coal deposit in Transbaikalia. It is being developed by a joint venture between Oleg Deripaska’s russian En+ Group and China’s Shenhua Group. Production is expected to last for 100 years, and the russian government has granted the company tax breaks. Starting in 2027, five million tons of coal are planned to be transported to China each year – about 500 trucks a day.

To this end, a new road is being built, which will pass just 200 meters off rural gardens, 1.6 km from the Yamovka mineral water spring, and through forests with rare plant species. Despite promises, local residents did not get jobs: key positions are occupied by Chinese specialists. Meanwhile, the company is cutting down cedar forests, and attempts to move the road further away from the protected area are being hampered by bureaucracy.

Dependence on China is also evident in tourism. Irkutsk region is actively developing routes for Chinese visitors, businessmen from the PRC are buying up land and building hotels on the shores of Lake Baikal, displacing local entrepreneurs and increasingly openly calling the lake “ours”. It is estimated that up to two million Chinese citizens already live in the Far East.

Thus, even the symbol of russia’s natural wealth, Lake Baikal, is gradually becoming part of China’s economic interests, underscoring to what extent moscow has lost control over its own resource-rich regions.