Under Western sanctions, Russia's manufacturing industry has suffered heavy losses. Even if it wants to regroup and realize the road to industrial rejuvenation, there seems to be no choice.
How much impact does Western sanctions have on Russia, especially Russian industries? Here is a set of data. In the first half of this year, 18 automobile factories in Russia have been shut down, with automobile production falling by 97%; optical cable production falling by 81%; glass and washing machines falling by 60%; televisions, electric motors and steel falling by 50%, and nearly 5 million related jobs lost, accounting for 12% of the national employment market in Russia.
. The above data that can be regarded as exaggerated are all from the report submitted by Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Manturov at the Russian State Duma meeting, and there is no problem with the authenticity.
(Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Manturov)
In fact, the main reason why Russia's manufacturing industry has experienced such a big decline is that the West has stopped providing technology exports to Russia, and Russia's manufacturing industry relies too much on Western technology. For example, the only company in Russia that can produce cars now - Lada . The cars they produce now do not have ABS anti-lock system, airbags, and even electric windows.
There is no way. The Soviet Union had not caught up with the third industrial revolution of . After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the industrial foundation it left to Russia was also broken down. A large number of state-owned industrial assets were either scattered to former franchisees such as Ukraine, Belarus , and Kazakhstan , or were sold to Western capital at a low price under the will of Yeltsin's government's "shock therapy".
(Former Russian President Yeltsin)
Western countries represented by the United States took the initiative to carry out " de-industrialization " in the process of "national financialization", but still selectively retained the most core and most profitable mid-to-high-end manufacturing enterprises. However, Russia in the 1990s realized "de-industrialization" passively and aimlessly, and almost without reservation. The "Eurasian factory" established in the Stalin era became a "world gas station" in the Yeltsin era.
Although Putin took office, timely stepped on the brakes on the issue of "de-industrialization" and retained some core manufacturing enterprises through forced nationalization, these enterprises still face a series of problems such as lack of succession and shortage of talents, because many technical talents left over from the Soviet era have long been poached by Western countries with high salaries, just like the United States poached a large number of German scientists after World War II.
The loss of talents and the fault of technology have made it difficult for Russia's manufacturing industry to be completely independent. Many key technologies have been "bottled" by the West. Even in Russia's most proud field of defense industry, some technologies rely on the West: for example, tank thermal imaging technology relies on France, and ship diesel engines rely on Germany.
Topic Back to the present, the Russian-Ukraine conflict is developing in a long-term manner, and the breakup between Russia and Europe has become an inevitable reality. Even if Russia finally wins and makes Ukraine surrender, it is afraid that the West's suppression and sanctions on Russia's manufacturing industry will continue.
Russia is not a small country like Singapore . It can survive well without relying on manufacturing. Its status and size determine that it must take the path of industrialization, otherwise it will not be Russia, but a "large Saudi ".
So will Russia be willing to become a "large Saudi Arabia"? The answer is obviously no. After all, even Saudi Arabia, which is often used to describe pure resource exporters, knows the unsustainability of oil and gas resource development and has begun to consider embarking on the path of industrial transformation through cooperation with the West and even China in the field of high-tech.
get back to the topic. Under the current circumstances, if Russia wants to resume industrialization, it is basically impossible to rely on the West as before. The only way is to "look eastward" with a cliché but does have broad prospects, integrate into the Asia-Pacific economic circle, integrate into China's "world factory" system, further open up Siberia and the Far East, and at the same time put down your posture and revive its own manufacturing system step by step.
Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that China's attitude will become crucial if Russia wants to rebuild its manufacturing industry in the future, or whether this country will eventually become a "large Saudi Arabia". Including China's capital, China's equipment, China's technology and China's standards, these are all urgently needed by Russia at present.
Of course, more importantly, Russia should learn from China's successful experience, combine its own national conditions, and truly embark on the road of independent Russian industrial rejuvenation, so that the national finances can get rid of its dependence on oil and gas and natural resources exports, and boost the economic level and resilience of the entire country.
Fortunately, with the continuous improvement of level of China-Russia relations, cooperation between China and Russia has gone beyond simple energy import and export. In the field of mid-to-high-end manufacturing, the two sides have successfully launched a number of cooperations, such as the well-known CR929 large aircraft project.
As Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui mentioned a few days ago, in the face of the difficult international situation, China's economic and trade cooperation has shown great flexibility and growth against the trend. China will continue to develop normal trade cooperation with Russia. On this basis, strategic major projects in the fields of energy, aviation, aerospace, infrastructure, etc. have made good progress.
All of this shows that China's attitude towards strengthening cooperation between China and Russia can be said to be very open. What should we do next depends on Russia.
