The Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China were unforgiving “enemies” from the mid-1950s through the end of the Cold War. True, the two communist giants did — with great caution — collaborate to arm and train the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. But politically and even ideologically they were enemies.
Indeed, after President Richard M. Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 the United States and China entered a period of limited cooperation aimed against the Soviet Union. Over the past 35 years this relationship has had up and downs — in the 1980s the Reagan administration began a military relationship, which included the establishment of a U.S. “listening post” in China to intercept Soviet communications; during the Clinton administration there was considerable technology transfer to China, while U.S.-China economic ties grew precipitously.
Following the demise of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 Russia and China entered a new relationship, which soon included massive sales of Russian military equipment to China including high-performance aircraft, destroyers, submarines, and other advanced weapons. Now Russia and China have reached a new level of cooperation — some might label it collaboration.
Russia’s new president, Dmitri Medvedev, has just completed a visit to Beijing. With China’s President Hu Jintao, Medvedev has signed a joint statement declaring that Russia and China are ready to push forward a new level of economic cooperation between their nations. Medvedev said that his country’s relationship with China is now a driving force on the world stage and can no longer be ignored — that the international community can no longer make major decisions without the participation of the two countries. He added that Russia will continue to pursue close ties with China, even if it makes other countries uneasy. “Our activity is not directed against any other country but serves to maintain an international balance,” Medvedev said of Russia’s new level of cooperation with China.
Among the other declarations of the two leaders during the May visit by Medvedev, they joined in criticizing plans of the United States to build a missile defense system in central Europe. From the start of that effort the Russian government believed that its purpose was to neutralize Russia’s IBCM force.
Both China and Russia are veto-wielding permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, where they have coordinated positions on controversial issues such as independence for Kosovo, which both countries oppose, as well as the Iranian nuclear issue. And, unlike most Western nations, Russia has not voiced concerns about China’s human rights record or its assault on the protest movement that erupted against Chinese rule in Tibet last March.
This was Medvedev’s first official foreign trip since becoming Russia’s president earlier in May. That action in itself is of major international significance. During their May meeting President Hu accepted an invitation from Medvedev to visit Russia in 2009.
The two leaders also signed a $1 billion agreement for Russia to build a uranium enrichment facility in China. Not publicized, their staffs also discussed an increase in military cooperation between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Russian air and ground forces are dispatching planeloads of humanitarian aid to China to help with earthquake relief efforts.
Not yet clear are the long-term implications for the United States and other Western states of the new Russia-China relationship. Prior to the recent meeting in Beijing, alarmists in the United States called attention to Russian military sales to China. These are expected to increase. Less attention has been given to the more important implications of Chinese efforts to increase influence and to obtain critical resources in Africa and the Middle East. Russian-Chinese collaboration could certainly exacerbate this situation.
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Objection. This story is not telling the entire picture of current Russia-China relationship. Military exports have been declining from Russia to China. Meanwhile intel community of both countries had ties for decades, Russian military officials are cautious of China, and are not happy with the reverse engineering of Russian military equipments resulting in copies of these to be exported from China. There were stories that China was interested in buying bombers and SU-33 for aircraft carrier, but I see no progress in that too, probably a result of Russia cautious of selling hi tech equipment to China. The two countries had fought a war once, the Chinese nuclear missiles were facing USSR during the cold war era, and the Russians do not trust nor like the Chinese. The BRIC is nothing but a strategic partnership, and the two are hiding a knife in one hand while shaking hands with the other hand. In recent talks between the two, Russia asked China to jointly appeal criticizing the NATO expansion, but Chinese officials were against this, fearing it would deny possibilities of future weapon exports from Europe. A gas or oil pipeline project through Siberia, were planned to pass through China, but that porject has been stalled for awhile. China may have been considered a strategic partner to counter USSR, but I think that is just a mess and a failure for US, starting with Kissenger the idiot. Just see all the hacking and espionage done against US these days, and the modernization of their military. China is much more a threat and a danger, with its large size of population, modernization, spying, hacking, swimming their submarines around Guam, building ASAT capabilities, and even hiring US lobby firms to partially put pressure on the government for their own purpose. We should rather have strategic partnership with Russia to counter growing threats of China, containing China with both Russia and India.
it seems that within the partnership that russia needs china more then china needs russia. with chinas economy more diverse compared with russia whose boom comes from oil and weapons exports. doesnt seem that the russia-china alliance is on equal terms.
It doesn’t make any sense for either Russia or China. Geographically, either country is a greater threat to the other than the US is. Assuming that the leadership of both countries are not idiots, this must be a case of keeping your friends close, but your enemies closer.
>>> Medvedev said … that the international community can no longer make major decisions without the participation of the two countries.
Sh’yeah, right. Any time there is any international issue in the forefront, Russia and China can be counted on to be on the wrong side of it. They are nothing more than obstructionists backing whatever tinpot dictator is causing trouble for the West.
The notion that the West has to seek Russia and China’s approval on anything is laughable. When was the last time either one of them came before the US to ask it’s blessing in some endeavor? Never!
This proclamation is nothing more than the Kleptocrats in Moscow and the Xenophobes in Beijing getting together to lament their toothlessness and lack of respect on the world stage.
Question:
re:
“Among the other declarations of the two leaders during the May visit by Medvedev, they joined in criticizing plans of the United States to build a missile defense system in central Europe. From the start of that effort the Russian government believed that its purpose was to neutralize Russia’s IBCM force.”
What might the IBCM force be?
JTH – its a typo, it should say ICBM.
The US IBCM force is made up of 0.500 Manminute missiles in hardened solos.
Russia & China are both members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization together with many Central Asian Ex-Soviet States,including Kyrgyzstan where a very important airbase for us is located.The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the “Warsaw Pact” for the 21st Century.It can very easily cut-off that important air base at Manas,& with Iran joining this organization along with Turkey,Georgia,& Azerbaijan,together with Pakistan going over to the darkside & joining the organization,we’ll lose Afghanistan for sure,because we’ll have no way to reach Afghanistan with needed supplies & reinforcements(because of all combined members surrounding Afghanistan closing off its air space).
This is a very real possibility & we seriously need to consider writing Afghanistan off because of it.Anyone who disagrees is seriously delusional &/or hopes everybody else is to stupid to get it.
With John’s comment, would it be a possible and viable solution to shut and abolish the UN?