Top envoy urges China-Russia border infrastructure as sanctions stymie transport

China’s top envoy to Russia has urged more transport infrastructure along the countries’ shared border to cut logistics costs and address challenges.Zhang Hanhui, Beijing’s ambassador to Moscow, said on Thursday that the two countries could explore cross-border transport corridors as major maritime logistics had been affected by sanctions.“I have suggested to the Russian side that more convenient crossings should be built along the China-Russia border, such as cross-river bridges,” Zhang said on the sidelines of the “two sessions”, the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and top political advisory body.“There are still some boundary rivers where bridges could be built. For instance, on the Ussuri River, a bridge could also be constructed near Raohe,” he said, referring to a border county in the eastern part of Heilongjiang province.Zhang mentioned two bridges connecting China and Russia, and highlighted the need for more efforts in cross-border infrastructure.One of them is a railway bridge connecting the countries across the Heilong (Amur) River from Tongjiang in China to Nizhneleninskoye in Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Oblast.