China and Russia are living up to their reputation as comrade-in-arms, especially now that Moscow is reeling financially from the impact of the western economic sanctions which has caused the rouble to depreciate by 45 percent since January.

To help Russia, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng proposed on Monday to use more of the yuan in their international trade, reports Phoenix TV in Hong Kong.

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That would involve expanding the three-year currency swap agreement that the two countries inked in October worth 150 billion yuan or US$24 billion. Only the consent of both nations are needed to expand the deal.

Under the agreement, payments made for imports and payments received for exports would be in renminbi so the transaction won't be face exchange-rate risks. The amount of swap is adjusted, considering change in circumstances as well as exchange rates instead of being pre-determined, explained the People's Bank of China in a microblog on December 19, reports Bloomberg.

Through currency-swap agreements, which the Chinese central bank has signed with 28 other central banks, China promotes the use of yuan as an alternative to the greenback for international trade transactions. China actually has the largest foreign exchange reserves at US$3.89 trillion, which dwarfs Russia's at only US$374 billion.

Justifying the proposed expansion of the currency-swap deal, the Beijing-based Global Times - a newspaper that's affiliated with the Communist Party - underscored in an editorial that "Russia is an irreplaceable strategic partner on the international trade."

Given that relationship, it is mandatory on China's part to adopt a proactive attitude to help Russia "walk out of the current crisis," the daily said.

But Global Times acknowledges that the currency-swap can only go so far since those measures can't address Russia's flawed economic structure and too much reliance on oil exports.

Jin Canrong, associate dean of Renmin University's School of International Studies, agreed with Global Times's stand. He noted that since many Chinese see Russia as their nation's big brother, it would serve Beijing's national interest if "China should deepen cooperation with Russia when such cooperation is in need."

Meanwhile, Gao estimated the two-way trade between Russia and China would reach their joint target of US$100 billion in 2014, a 1.1 percent improvement from 2013's US$89.2 billion.

TagsRussia, economic sanctions, currency-swap agreement, yuan