, Columnist
A Gas Pipeline Won’t Turn Russia and China Into Buddies
Putin would love to make Beijing as dependent on Russian gas exports as Europe is. But China may have the stronger hand.
A worker adjusts a pipeline valve on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in Russia.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Are pipelines built to threaten democracies, or befriend authoritarians? Judging by the responses to Russia’s two biggest gas export projects, it depends where you are.
In Europe, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, intended to double Moscow’s direct export capacity into Germany to 110 billion cubic meters a year, has become caught up in geopolitical rivalry over eastern Europe. Approval for the project has been delayed for about six months amid a Russian troop buildup near its border with Ukraine.