Russian officials announced that the first road bridge connecting Russia to China, which is just over a kilometre long, has been completed.
The bridge spans the Amur River, connecting the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk in the county’s far eastern region and the northeastern Chinese city of Heihe. The bridge was built to allow for increased trade between the two nations in the form of freight traffic and agricultural products.
The Russo-Chinese company that constructed the bridge was also involved with ‘building 20 km of new roads’, according to Reuters.
‘We are forming a new international transport corridor,’ said Vasily Orlov, the Amur region’s governor. ‘It will allow us to fully reach our transit potential.’
Cross-border bridge connecting Russia & China to open in 2020 – https://t.co/XyBooMGZgJ#Amur_river #Construction #Trade #Russia #China #Cross_border pic.twitter.com/cAwhhINdba
— Ruslan Baisarov (@Ruslan_Baisarov) November 25, 2019
Although the building of the bridge is complete, it’s expected to officially open in spring 2020 (autumn in the Southern Hemisphere).
According to a report by Reuters, ‘mutual wariness and Russian fears of expanding Chinese influence in its sparsely populated but mineral-rich far east have stymied such development in the past,’ however after the West imposed sanctions after Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, Russia has aligned itself more closely to China.
On Monday, 2 December Russia switched on an 8,100km gas pipeline, known as ‘The Power of Siberia’ to supply natural gas to China as part of a 30-year deal.
Image: Twitter/ @IntelOperator
