Carnegie Moscow Center
Despite many years of talk of the Far East’s economic dependence on Chinese capital and labor, the pandemic has revealed that both of those resources can be found in Russia itself.
If Russia and China study each other’s legislation, it’s purely out of practical considerations for the purposes of doing business and protecting the interests of their own nationals.
Moscow knows that the United States’ main concern is the military rapprochement of Moscow and Beijing, in particular anything resembling a military alliance. It’s likely no coincidence that Putin touched on this sore point in recent comments.
Europe’s policy should start with a clear identification of those elements of Sino-Russian cooperation that are detrimental for EU’s interests and that whose direction it can influence.
Courted by Alexander Lukashenko since the 2000s, China has gradually expanded its presence, economic and otherwise, in Belarus. However, its strengthening position there has not come at Russia’s expense, and, as unrest spreads following last month’s presidential election, there is little reason to expect China to step in to rescue the embattled president.
China’s emerging sea-based nuclear capability is going to be increasingly important for the country’s overall nuclear deterrent. But with this growing capability, China also faces a wide range of new challenges. The perception of an increasing threat from conventional weapons to China’s nuclear deterrent is forcing it to face a new reality in which the interaction between conventional and nuclear weapons becomes more complicated.
For the foreseeable future, Russian-Chinese relations are likely to be closer, and more productive than Russian-American ones. This is not based on emotions, but on national interests.
US and EU sanctions against the Chinese telecoms group have bolstered Sino-Russian co-operation
The inflow of coronavirus cases entering China from Russia won’t ruin the two countries’ flourishing relationship based on pragmatic interests. The Chinese are more disappointed in the anti-China rhetoric coming from the White House than in Russia’s inability to swiftly combat the coronavirus outbreak.
Despite border closures, Russia and others may be pushed even closer to Beijing.