Putin has east, but how strong are Russia's economic ties to China?

Hello, and you're listening to the Marketplace Morning Report, live from the BBC World Service

on the Annaburn.

Good morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is on his way to Beijing for talks with Chinese President

Xi Jinping and to take part in the Belt and Road Forum, and just a reminder, the Belt

and Road Initiative is China's project to tie it economically closer to low-income countries

through investments and infrastructure projects.

While Russia is losing friends in the world stage, its relationship with China is getting

stronger.

So, the BBC's Steve McDonnell went to the border in northeastern China to see if

trade between Russia and China is really proving.

Over the past 100 years, China and Russia have been close allies and also bitter enemies.

But in recent years, Beijing and Moscow have found themselves being frozen out on the

world stage, so they've turned to one another for support, and an attempt to build something

of an alliance against the West.

To do this, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have declared to their people that their countries

now have a so-called no-limits partnership.

Hitting right up to the border, you reach the point where Heilongjiang Province is separated

from Russia by a river.

Here, according to China's state media, the small city of Hei He has experienced a significant

recent increase in trade, but when we visit, this doesn't seem to be as healthy as has

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