Countries look to extend economic cooperation

China and Russia could break the mold for economic cooperation by coordinating development of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, according to Chinese observers.

The May 8 agreement reached by President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on their respective strategies is expected to lead to a new regional cooperation model for China, Russia and the core Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Yang Cheng, deputy director of the center for Russian studies at East China Normal University in Shanghai, said Western media, think tanks and governments have claimed that such coordination will not last, and there are likely to be many conflicts of interest between the Belt and Road Initiative and the EEU.