Prospects for Chinese participation in the construction of the tunnel to the Crimea through the Kerch Strait are very vague, say experts orientalists. However, the very project of laying a network of roads under water causes no less skeptical assessments.

The Chinese are interested in the Crimea, but only from a purely commercial point of view, says Sergei Sazonov, a leading researcher at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Accordingly, they will not be frightened by the sanctions of the West, if they decide that the project of laying a tunnel linking mainland Russia and the peninsula will bring profit. In this case, this is a very contentious issue:.

"Why do we need an underground passage through the Kerch Strait, when we do not know the volume of cargo turnover and passenger turnover of the overpass, which will be launched at the end of next year," the expert points out in an interview with the "Free Press". "The cost of traveling through the tunnel is prohibitively high," he predicted..

As an example, Sazonov leads a high-speed Moscow-Kazan highway. It was assumed that China will allocate money for its construction. However, recently, Beijing has not heard enthusiastic exclamations of investors: "The Chinese already have about 26 high-speed railways and only the Beijing-Shanghai branch will reach self-sufficiency in 5 years, since its annual passenger turnover exceeds 100 million. human. In Russia, there are not so many people who would have traveled to Moscow-Kazan. This unprofitable projections, "- explains Sazonov.

However, this point of view is not shared by all. Alexei Maslov, head of the School of Oriental Studies at the Higher School of Economics, notes that the PRC has recently demonstrated "the readiness to invest in long-term projects that are not obvious in terms of impact". For the sake of promoting their initiative "One belt - one way" they invest considerable funds in the development of transport infrastructure abroad. From this point of view, the construction of a tunnel to the Crimea is a good project, let the profits and have to wait 10-15 years.

Meanwhile, to reports of China's intention to dig a course on the peninsula of Maslov calls to be treated with caution.

He points out that the phrase "Chinese investors expressed interest" does not mean that the issue has already been resolved.

On Saturday, May 27, Minister of Economic Development of the Republic of Crimea Andrei Melnikov said that a group of Chinese entrepreneurs was interested in the project of building a tunnel to the Crimea through the Kerch Strait. He also recalled that Chinese investors are already engaged in the reconstruction of the airport in Simferopol.