Does China Have the Upper Hand in Energy Deals With Russia?

In May of 2014, during President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Beijing on May 21, China and Russia signed a 30-year gas supply agreement worth $400 billion. At the time, Russia was staging a war with Ukraine and faced increasing economic sanctions from the West. Then, in 2022, Russia signed yet another 30-year agreement to supply natural gas to China just before launching its invasion of Ukraine. At the time of the initial 30-year agreement, Putin claimed that the $80 billion worth of new production and pipeline infrastructure needed to…