Chinese companies invest in occupied Ukrainian territories amid Russia’s financial struggles
Several private Chinese companies have begun operations in temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine, supplying essential equipment and helping rebuild destroyed factories, reports NV, suggesting that these business activities likely have the backing of the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese entrepreneurs from varying sectors such as energy, agriculture, and light industry are traveling to these regions to form joint Chinese-Russian companies and are actively seeking local workers.
"Currently, Russians lack the financial resources to develop the captured Ukrainian territories, prompting the Kremlin to seek Chinese investment," stated Pavlo Lysianskyi, Director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Security.
Since the spring of 2023, companies from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk have appeared at China's "Canton Fair" in Guangzhou. For instance, Artom Zhykharyev, "advisor to the general director" of the "state company 'Nadra'" from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, visited industrial equipment plants in Beijing, Zhengzhou, Jinan, and Taiyuan. By 2024, the Chinese company Liming Heavy Industry Science & Technology is expected to supply various industrial equipment, including stationary crushers and vibrating feeders.
The media reports that the Chinese are aiding Russians not only in rebuilding the devastated industries of Donbas but also by supplying equipment to mines occupied by Russia in Torez, Snizhne, and Khrestivka. Moreover, Russia is seeking to connect the highway "Rostov-on-Don — Mariupol — Melitopol — Simferopol," which it is actively constructing, to an international transportation corridor "Europe — Western China."
Additionally, it is reported that there are ongoing contacts between representatives of the Chinese Communist Party and Russian administrations.
Chinese authorities are engaging individuals who are under investigation in Ukraine and subject to international sanctions for work on these projects. One such individual is Wang Duntao, assistant to the general director and director of investment and financing of Heilongjiang Construction Investment Group, according to journalists.
Experts informed the media that in the first half of 2023, stolen assets and resources from occupied Donbas territories were being exported to China. Meanwhile, over 60% of imports to the temporarily occupied Luhansk region consisted of goods from China.
Experts indicate that Russia cannot independently restore the devastated industries of Donbas and is therefore urgently seeking the involvement of Chinese enterprises. Furthermore, Russia is attempting to persuade Chinese businesses that these territories will remain under Russian control. "The Kremlin offers favorable conditions to Beijing and Chinese businesses in occupied territories. In return, China is promoting the idea that the occupied territories should remain under Russian control through all diplomatic channels. Essentially, this is a business lobbying technique aimed at legitimizing Putin's military aggression on an international stage," opines political scientist Petro Oleschuk.