Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhammedov will travel to China on April 30, where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao as part of a series of meetings between Chinese leaders and visiting heads of government ahead of the Shanghai World Expo, which begins May 1. Berdimukhammedov and Hu will likely discuss a number of issues, but none will be more significant to both countries than energy. According to Stratfor sources in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan has plunged into a serious crisis over a massive decline in natural gas exports, which is slashing the country's gross domestic product nearly in half. Berdimukhammedov's visit to China aims to mitigate this crisis as much as possible. But even with China's help, Turkmenistan will not be able to get out of the crisis unless the country turns to the other heavyweight in the region: Russia.