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The exodus of Western companies from Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine has left a business vacuum that China is very interested in filling.
Notably, China is interested in taking advantage of the oil, gas, and metals projects that have been left behind by various companies boycotting Russia.
It seems that sanctions and boycotts on Russia may have the unintended consequence of strengthening China’s efforts to internationalize the yuan.

Amid an exodus of Western European and U.S. companies from Russia, Chinese businesses are seeking to take their place, Bloomberg reported this week, citing unnamed sources in the know.

It was only a matter of time, really. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does business. Chinese business, in addition to this, is quite pragmatic, unlike its Western counterparts and competitors. So, once BP, Shell, and pretty much everyone but French TotalEnergies left Russia in the wake of the Ukraine crisis, Chinese energy firms owned by the government started considering moving in.

According to Bloomberg sources, the government in Beijing is talking to four state-owned entities about the acquisition of stakes in Russian oil and metals companies. The entities include China National Petroleum Corp, or CNPC, China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, the country’s largest refiner, as well as Aluminum Corp and China Minmetals Group.

Talks, the report said, were also ongoing between Chinese and Russian companies, although it was too early to say whether they would end with deals. The chances of deals, however, are pretty good. It is one of the clearest examples of mutual benefits: China needs raw materials to grow; Russia has the raw materials and needs money.

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