men hire unemployed countrymen and send them to Russia as tourists. Afterward, they ship containers of goods for the tourists to sell. Receipts from the sales go to firms that the same businessmen establish in Russia. The money is then used to buy timber and scrap metal. They then create Russian shell companies to send the shipments across the border to China.1.3 The bilateral trade volume is small and the cooperation level is low. Firstly, according to the China Trade, in 1998 the trade volume covers only 5% of the total importing and exporting volume of Russia. On the other hand, the trade volume only covers 2.4% of the total importing and exporting volume of China, or 20.1% of Sino-Japan trade volume. Secondly, the low level of trade cooperation is also showed on the trade form. In 1995, the barter trade covers 61.2% of the whole Sino-Russia trade. Later bilateral governments reach an agreement that bilateral trade should be transformed from the barter trade to spot transaction, and thus the proportion of the barter trade falls down. However, at the same time the bilateral volume also decreases with the falling of small barters. In fact, Sino-Russia trade relations lack the form of big global standard trade cooperation; therefore, this cooperation still remains at a very small level. Thirdly, the bilateral direct investment has remained at a low standard until now. Until 1998 Russia has only invested 0.2 billion US dollars in China, while from 1993 to 1997 the direct foreign investment amount in China is almost 185.8 billion US dollars. On the other hand, until 1997 China has only invest 0.18 billion US dollars in Russia, while from 1993 to 1997 Russia has absorbed 9.7 billion US dollars. Therefore, the trade cooperation is not in line with the large potential of both countries, and also not in line with the rapid increasing Sino-Russia political and military relationship.1.4 The bilateral trade volume is not stable and in line with ...
