【By Observer News, Ruan Jiaqi】
According to RIA Novosti, on April 4th, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during the 11th Russia-China Finance Ministers Dialogue held in Beijing that Russia and China have basically moved away from trade settlements using Western currencies, with almost all payments now conducted in rubles and yuan.
According to the report, 99.1% of settlements in bilateral Russia-China trade use the currencies of the two countries, a proportion that has further increased from the previous "90% to 95%" announced by the Russian government. He said these figures "speak for themselves."
Siluanov pointed out that this shift not only allowed both countries to successfully bypass the "unfriendly foreign infrastructure" linked to the US dollar and euro, but also enabled them to avoid the Western banking system of "unfriendly countries."
"Previously, trade payments mainly relied on the US dollar and euro, with funds needing to flow through Western banks, which could interrupt related settlement operations at any time," he added, therefore the current core task is to "consolidate these achievements" and further expand bilateral cooperation.
Prime Minister Mishustin of Russia is also currently visiting China, invited to hold a series of high-level meetings with Chinese officials. According to Russian media reports, at the 30th regular meeting between the Prime Ministers of Russia and China held on the 3rd, Mishustin also emphasized that the share of the US dollar and euro in Russia-China trade transactions had been reduced to a minimum.
When emphasizing that China is Russia's largest external economic partner, he mentioned, "The share of the US dollar and euro in trade settlements has already reached the level of statistical error."
Russian Prime Minister Mishustin, Russian media video screenshot
According to an earlier report by TASS, the key points of the Russia-China talks include developing trade and economic cooperation, enhancing logistics connectivity and industrial collaboration, strengthening energy partnerships, and expanding cooperation in high-tech and agricultural fields.
According to the speech content released on the website of the Russian Ministry of Finance, Siluanov announced that in 2024, bilateral trade between Russia and China reached a historical peak of 245 billion USD, and it continues to maintain a high growth rate this year.
He stated that the Russian and Chinese economic systems have fully demonstrated their resilience, continuing to develop steadily even under Western pressure.
"The current destructive policies of the West and the attempts to maintain leadership through sanctions have been proven ineffective. Increasing debt and protectionism will only exacerbate global instability and cause negative impacts on the economies of the countries implementing these restrictions," Siluanov said, "At the same time, our economic and financial systems have shown strong resilience."
Anton Siluanov, Russian Ministry of Finance website
He further emphasized that the reliability of the Russia-China partnership has been fully verified through years of common development, and the relationship between the two countries has accumulated sufficient resilience, laying a solid foundation for future development; in the critical period of transformation of the world order and the formation of new structures including the financial system, Russia-China cooperation is an essential stabilizing factor.
In addition, Siluanov clearly defined four priority areas for cooperation in the financial field: first, maintaining the stability of bilateral financial infrastructure, building new reliable settlement channels, and helping to increase bilateral trade; second, creating a favorable environment for enterprises, supporting the growth of bilateral investment, and promoting joint projects within Russia and China; third, providing convenient and clear payment mechanisms for citizens of Russia and China; fourth, coordinating cooperation on international platforms and multilateral development institutions to formulate mutually beneficial and win-win unified solutions for core issues of the global economic and financial agenda.
According to Russian media reports, data and reports from the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) this year show that the share of the Chinese yuan in Russia's foreign exchange reserves has significantly increased, becoming the second-largest currency after gold, making Russia one of the largest holders of Chinese yuan reserves in the world.
At the same time, in response to the "de-dollarization" strategy against Western sanctions, the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund, the National Welfare Fund (NWF), has also shifted its asset allocation to be dominated by the Chinese yuan, completely excluding the US dollar from its liquid assets. This fund is mainly used to stabilize the ruble exchange rate and support trade settlements between Russia and non-Western countries (such as the ruble-yuan trade between Russia and China).
According to data released by the People's Bank of China, as of the end of 2024, the scale of swap funds under the China-Russia currency swap agreement has reached 150 billion yuan, ranking 11th along with Switzerland among the 32 countries and regions that have signed bilateral currency swap agreements with the Chinese central bank, fully demonstrating the vitality and importance of Sino-Russian financial cooperation.
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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7569070163685917184/
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