June 10 (Reuters) – Russia and China opened a new cross-border bridge in the far east on Friday which they hope will further boost trade as Moscow reels from sweeping Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine.
The bridge linking the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the Chinese city of Heihe across the Amur river – known in China as Heilongjiang – is just over one kilometre long and cost 19 billion roubles ($342 million), the RIA news agency reported.
Amid a firework display, freight trucks from both ends crossed the two-lane bridge that was festooned with flags in the colours of both countries, video footage of the opening showed.
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Russian authorities said the bridge would bring Moscow and Beijing closer together by boosting trade after they announced a “no limits” partnership in February, shortly before President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine.
“In today’s divided world, the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge between Russia and China carries a special symbolic meaning,” said Yuri Trutnev, the Kremlin representative in the Russian Far East.
China wants to deepen practical cooperation with Russia in all areas, Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said at the opening.
Russia’s Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said the bridge would help boost bilateral annual trade to more than 1 million tonnes of goods.
Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
CUTTING JOURNEY TIME
The bridge had been under construction since 2016 and was completed in May 2020 but its opening was delayed by cross-border COVID-19 restrictions, said BTS-MOST, the firm building the bridge on the Russian side.
BTS-MOST said freight traffic on the bridge would shorten the travel distance of Chinese goods to western Russia by 1,500 kilometres (930 miles). Vehicles crossing the bridge must pay a toll of 8,700 roubles ($150), a price that is expected to drop as toll fees begin to offset the cost of construction.
Russia said in April it expected commodity flows with China to grow, and trade with Beijing to reach $200 billion by 2024.
China is a major buyer of Russian natural resources and agricultural products.
China has declined to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine and has criticised the Western sanctions on Moscow.
($1 = 57.8000 roubles)
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Reporting by Reuters
Editing by Gareth Jones
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Canadian police on Sunday arrested protesters and towed vehicles to clear access to a crucial bridge connecting Detroit with the Canadian border city of Windsor, Ontario, a move local officials say marks an end to a week of economic turbulence.
Law-enforcement and border officials are working on a timetable as to when the 1.6-mile Ambassador Bridge might reopen. Windsor police said Sunday that they hoped to allow traffic to resume on the bridge at some point during the day.
Protesters had succeeded in largely blocking most two-way bridge traffic since Monday in an attempt to persuade governments in Canada to drop Covid-19 vaccine mandates and related social restrictions.
Over 100 police officers surrounded the remaining protesters shortly after 8 a.m. ET Sunday on a main street that leads to access to the bridge, over which hundreds of millions of dollars of goods are transported by trucks into the U.S. and Canada each day.
A spokesman for the Windsor Police Service said roughly 12 protesters were arrested on Sunday and two or more vehicles were towed. Sgt. Steve Betteridge said protesters who were arrested weren’t violent and police didn’t have to use force.
“We are hoping to have the roadway open and the bridge open later today,” Sgt. Betteridge said. “But as you can appreciate, it’s a very fluid situation.”
Windsor police added that officers would remain in the vicinity of the bridge until they judged it safe for regular traffic to resume. “There will be zero tolerance for illegal activity,” the police force said in a tweet.
A Canadian judge granted police permission to forcibly remove the protesters starting Friday evening, following a petition from the City of Windsor and auto-industry representatives.
“Today, our national economic crisis at the Ambassador Bridge came to an end,” Windsor Mayor
Drew Dilkens
said Sunday. “Border crossings will reopen when it is safe to do so and I defer to police and border agencies to make that determination.”
Police officers moved along a road leading to the Ambassador Bridge on Sunday after clearing demonstrators.
Photo:
CARLOS OSORIO/REUTERS
A spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency said officials were working with police to restore normal border operations as quickly as possible.
North American auto makers, including
General Motors Co.
,
Stellantis
NV, and
Ford Motor Co.
, have curtailed production over the past week and sent employees home in some cases because parts required for assembly couldn’t be delivered. Some Canadian auto-parts suppliers have also begun to reduce production because they have been unable to ship orders to the U.S.
Auto-industry representatives on Saturday applauded efforts by police in their initial efforts to clear access to the Ambassador Bridge.
With authorities moving to reopen the bridge, the focus in Canada will now turn to ending a protest in Ottawa, which on Sunday entered its 17th day. Protest organizers have repeatedly said they won’t leave the capital until governments in Canada drop the vaccine mandates and social restrictions. Over 400 heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles have turned the capital’s downtown into a parking lot, clogging traffic in the core and disrupting residents’ lives. Some Windsor protesters said their blockade was inspired by events in Ottawa.
“The country needs the police to do their job…and restore order,” Bill Blair, Canada’s Emergency Preparedness Minister, told CTV News on Sunday. He added that federal officials have discussed the rarely-used powers available in Canada’s federal Emergencies Act to help end protests. The act permits the national government to impose temporary measures, such as deployment of the military, if it believes local authorities are unable to maintain security.
At another Canadian border town, Fort Erie, Ontario, Canadian police on Sunday restricted traffic to the Peace Bridge, which crosses from the community into Buffalo, New York, after protesters attempted to block bridge traffic. Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said police weren’t allowing vehicles onto the bridge unless they were essential workers or had a legitimate commercial reason for traveling. He said town officials learned of a potential blockade through social-media posts, with protesters demanding an end to Covid-19 restrictions.
The Ambassador Bridge, one of the busiest border crossings in North America, accommodates roughly 30% of annual two-way U.S.-Canada trade, which recent U.S. data pegs at more than $600 billion. Two-way U.S.-Canada trade of over $28 billion in motor vehicles and auto parts was transported last year over the bridge, according to Statistics Canada.
Efforts to clear protesters blocking access to a key U.S.-Canada trade corridor appeared to have stalled Saturday afternoon as the crowd near the Ambassador Bridge entrance grew. Photo: Cole Burston/Getty Images
—Jacquie McNish and Kim Mackrael contributed to this article.