Chinese-Russian Trade in National Currencies to Speed Up De-Dollarization - Diplomat

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Switching to payments in national currencies in Russian-Chinese trade is speeding up the process of global de-dollarization, China’s Charge d'Affaires to Russia Sun Weidong said on Wednesday.

"The existing economic partnership between China and Russia and the accumulated level of long-term trade have laid a firm basis for further deepening of the cooperation between our countries... Financial cooperation, such as payments in national currencies, that we are currently promoting, will facilitate global de-dollarization," Sun said during a conference on Russian-Chinese relations.

The volume of trade between the two countries has grown from $881 billion to $1.5 trillion, the diplomat said, adding that the trade cooperation between Russia and China focuses primarily on energy and agriculture.

"Energy cooperation continues to play an important role in relations between the two countries, in addition, agricultural products and seafood from Russia are increasingly entering the Chinese market. We have cooperation on major projects in the field of nuclear energy, aircraft construction, rocket engines, satellite navigation... In addition, there is constant settlement in local currencies," Sun said.

The diplomat also noted that both Russia and China are aware that deepening strategic cooperation between the two countries is not a temporary measure, but a strategic choice based on the fundamental interests of the two states and their peoples.

"China and Russia invariably raise the banner of independence together, which is an integral part of their joint development," Sun said.

Moscow has repeatedly pointed out that Washington's sanctions policy undermines confidence in the dollar, reduces national reserves investment in the US public debt, and contributes to increasing the volume of foreign trade in rubles and other currencies. At the same time, the Russian authorities have maintained that the de-dollarization policy does not entail a ban on dollar circulation, but rather creates economically beneficial conditions for the use of other currencies.