Oil, energy top Putin visit agenda

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for a three-day state visit set to be dominated by oil and energy supplies. The visit is expected to see China up pressure for Russia to direct a proposed new trans-Siberian oil pipeline to supply the increasingly thirsty Chinese market. Japan is also competing for oil from the planned pipeline and has promised to invest at least US$5 billion in Russia's underdeveloped Far East if the pipeline is built to supply Japan. China has offered US$12 billion, to be invested in the Russian energy sector. Putin has said that no decision has yet been made, and vowed that Russian interests would come first in deciding where to build the pipeline. In an interview before his departure from Moscow he urged China to consider investments beyond the energy sector and toward the broader Russian economy.