Moscow builds the Tianwan nuclear power plant and entices Beijing capital

Work has begun on two nuclear power plants and will be completed by 2028. "Golden visas" for Chinese entrepreneurs, with facilitated taxation. Over the past 15 years, Chinese private investment in Russia has reached $ 56 billion.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Yesterday May 19, the leaders of Russia and China, Putin and Xi Jinping, joined online for the laying of the foundation stone on two new gigantic reactors for nuclear power plants in China.

Three years ago the two presidents signed the protocols for the joint supply of four nuclear reactors, no. 7 and 8 of Tianwan (in the city of Lianyungang, in Jiangsu), and the maintenance of reactors 3 and 4 “Siuydapu”, also in the group of the province of Jangsu (photo 2).

The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant is the most impressive project of the Russian-Chinese economic collaboration in the energy field. The first reactors were activated in 2007, the third at the end of 2017 and the fourth in December 2020.

"For the first time we were able to agree on the realization of such important projects simultaneously in two areas" - said the deputy- Russian Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak at Rossiyskaja Gazeta - "for the Russian energy industry, partnership with China is our strategic priority today, and today's ceremony is a decisive step in this direction".

The head of the Russian nuclear power company Rosatom, Alexei Likhačev, explained that Russia currently supplies 27 plants abroad, and the Chinese ones are the most impressive.

During the meeting, President Putin promised Russia's full readiness to continue collaboration in the field of nuclear energy and in the preparation of new low-carbon technologies. In this way, thanks to the union with China, Russia seeks to gain ground in the new prospects for ecological conversion of the economy, in which so far it appears tragically overdue.

The new nuclear reactors, according to Putin, "the most powerful, modern and safest ever" will reach full capacity between 2026 and 2028: "Chinese consumers will have large quantities of clean and cheap electricity at their disposal".

The Russian openings to China are also underlined by the new rules for granting entry visas to citizens of the East, which provide easy long-term permits for those who invest capital in Russia. The bill is called the "golden visa", which should attract above all Chinese entrepreneurs’ eager to multiply their capital abroad.

In Russia they would not need new registrations for their businesses, and would enjoy a much more favourable tax regime than at home.

The "golden visas" will be accessible as early as 2022, and will allow the free transit of investors and their relatives between Russia and China, even obtaining medical assistance and all the social services of Russian citizens themselves. On the Chinese side, the project receives the praise of the press: The South China Morning Post has shown how this favourable regime already works very well in several countries that have good relations with China. For example, in Portugal since 2012 it is enough to invest just over 300 thousand dollars to obtain a visa, and since then the Chinese have invested almost 6 billion for this purpose, almost all in real estate.

Over the past 15 years, Chinese private investment in Russia has reached $ 56 billion. The new measures should quadruple the pace of cash flows, attracting funds especially in the luxury construction sector. For the Chinese whose income exceeds $ 149,000, the taxation at home reaches 45%; in Russia they would remain at 15%.

Demographic data show that the Chinese population decreases in the northern regions bordering cold Siberia, mostly moving to the warmer regions; the new conditions should instead entice the wealthy to enjoy much more comfortable conditions despite the low temperatures of Asian Russia.