FROM JAY CHOU TO ERIC CHOU: THE LASTING INFLUENCE OF HONG KONG/TAIWAN POP MUSIC AMIDST THE RISE OF CHINA

Abstract

China and Russia are complementary partners in the oil and gas industry. However, their relationship has been often plagued by unbalanced power dynamics. In recent years, Russia has emerged as one of China’s largest oil supplier; creating a large Chinese dependence on Russian oil and gas resources. Despite the above and close political ties, at times, the power imbalance insecurity results in hostile and cold reactions from both parties that jeopardize the stability of Sino-Russian political and economic relations. Given that Chinese and Russian governments maintain heavy capital controls for the in and out flows of their oil and gas assets, this thesis aims to study the trust building impact of blockchain technologies on Sino-Russian energy relations. A core technology of blockchain is the distributed ledger which establishes trust between oil and gas companies for payments and the supply chain of the natural resources. The distributed ledger creates greater transparency for Sino-Russian governments to assess the trade compliance levels against strict government control on state owned assets. Therefore, trust-enabling blockchain technologies between China and Russia can facilitate their oil and gas trade and alleviate unbalanced Sino-Russian power dynamics.