Russia Plans Gas Line to Feed China

The announcement came as Putin met with Hu for the fifth time in less than a year, the latest sign of growing trade ties between the two enormous countries, once bitter enemies.

The meeting was cast as the formal start of the Year of Russia in China -- celebrated with festivals and goodwill programs -- marking the growth of cooperation since settlement of the last significant Sino-Russian border dispute in late 2004. Russia has announced plans to reciprocate with the Year of China in Russia in 2007.

In a meeting with Hu at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square, Putin called the observances "a large-scale, multifaceted, unprecedented project" that demonstrates the importance both nations attach to their relations.

Trade between the two powers, which reached nearly $30 billion in 2005, is expected to double before 2010. Much of the total was weapons; the Chinese military has become the leading customer for Russia's defense industry, buying advanced warplanes, warships and missile systems.

As China has embraced the automobile and erected factories along the length of its coastline, it has blossomed into the world's second-largest consumer of energy, trailing only the United States. China's oil consumption will grow by nearly 6 percent this year to nearly 7 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency. By comparison, the United States consumes nearly 21 million barrels per day.

Securing future energy supplies has become a key aim of China's foreign policy.

In recent years, China's state energy firms have deployed around the globe, from Indonesia to Angola to Venezuela, to lock up new sources of energy -- a mission that has brought China into conflict with the United States and Europe on security issues.

China is pressing to complete a $100 billion energy agreement with Iran. The deal would allow the state-owned China Petrochemical Corp. to develop the Yadavaran oil field in southern Iran. The talks are taking place as Washington seeks to isolate Iran and halt its nuclear development plans.

China National Petroleum Corp., the country's biggest state energy firm, is the single largest shareholder in a government-led oil consortium in Sudan, a country accused by the United States of committing genocide in its western region of Darfur.

China has been particularly keen to secure supplies present in its energy-rich neighbors -- Russia and Kazakhstan -- with the aim of reducing its reliance on shipping lanes policed by the United States.

Last October, China National Petroleum completed its $4.18 billion purchase of PetroKazakhstan Inc., which controls about 12 percent of Kazakhstan's oil output.

[And on Wednesday, the chief executive of Russia's OAO Rosneft oil company said his firm plans joint ventures with China National Petroleum, the Associated Press reported. Sergei Bogdanchikov said the companies would work together to extract and refine Russian oil, as well as operate filling stations, the AP reported.]

But China's primary target -- Russia's Siberian oil -- remains elusive and the object of continued jockeying between Asia's great powers.