The conflict in Yemen and Iran’s nuclear program are important topics in which Russia and China may agree on, according to Ahmet Goncu, an associate professor at China's Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
Goncu explained to The Anadolu Agency that in the Chinese FM’s Moscow visit that both Yemen and Iran's nuclear program will be both Russia's and China's common subjects of interest.
"The visit also coincides with the to-be-discussed resolution of Saudi Arabia in the UN regarding intervention in Yemen. Saudi Arabia accuses Russia of helping the Houthis by supplying weapons. The relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia are being affected due to this problem," Goncu said.
Goncu said that, China has good relations with Russia and China imports fossil fuels from Iran. That's why it is not the best interest of China to be involved directly with the secretarian conflict in Yemen.
"Although, China has its traditional close stand to Russia and Iran might prefer a lower profile in the recent Yemen conflict with its increasing imports of fossil fuels it is not in the best interest of China to be involved directly with the sectarian conflict in Yemen," he added.
Chinese FM Wang Yi will visit Moscow on Monday until Wednesday and is expected to meet with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov. The Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to visit Moscow in May for the World War Two victory day celebration.
"Chinese FM Wang Yi is also going to make a preparatory visit before Jinping’s expected visit in May. The Chinese FM is likely to discuss economic relations and energy deals. The visit might lead to new energy deals, since the two countries have very large energy projects especially in the natural gas industry. Therefore, it would not be surprising that Chinese FM Wang will explore new energy deal opportunities in Russia," Goncu said.
Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. signed a $400 billion gas supply deal last year. Nearly 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas are expected to be exported to China annually. With this deal, China plans to reduce its dependence on coal. The world's largest economy consumed about 170 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2013 and is expected to consume 420 billion cubic meters per year by 2020.
"Energy issues are always high on Russian-Chinese bilateral discussions, but currently energy most probably will be only addressed remotely as seemingly the major topic of mutual interest today are developments in the Gulf region," said Valdur Lahtvee, director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Stockholm Environment Institute in Tallinn.
"Also the UN resolution in Yemen is about to be agreed these days, and both China and Russia may want to unify positions on this," Lahtvee added.
At least 185 warplanes have been deployed in a Saudi-led military offensive by several Arab states against Yemen's Shiite Houthi militant group on March 26.
In a joint statement issued after the attacks, five Gulf States – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait – said the operation had come "in response to a request by Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to protect Yemen from the aggression of Houthi militias."
The statement went on to accuse the Houthis of being the tool of foreign powers that seek to harm Yemen's security and stability.
By Murat Temizer
Anadolu Agency
murat.temizer@aa.com.tr