Herman Pirchner, Jr., president of the American Foreign Policy Council, provided an interesting statement last week before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. His topic: the growing strategic relationship between China and Russia.
All of us have watched strategic cooperation between Russia and China increase dramatically—growing to encompass military sales, joint military research and development, common diplomatic stances on an array of international issues, as well as non-military trade.The precondition for this interaction was the progressive settlement of the long-standing Russian-Chinese border dispute. The bulk of the current border delineation, largely agreed to in the closing days of the Soviet Union, was formally settled on July 16, 2001. However, agreement on the last disputed parts of the border was not formalized until June 2 nd of this year.
The logic underpinning the settlement was compelling for both sides. Facing a potential future clash with the United States over Taiwan, China did not want the indefinite commitment of military resources required to protect a hostile 2,264-mile border with Russia. Russia, lacking the manpower, resources, and political will to station large numbers of troops along its border with China, also needed a border settlement that would permit it to focus on its long and traumatic domestic evolution.
The border settlement was also a prerequisite for bilateral trade. Russia was the only country able and willing to supply China with the sophisticated military equipment it coveted. Further, Russian sales of non-military items—such as lumber, ores and petroleum—were seen as central to the expansion of China’s economic and industrial activities. The border settlement also helped create the political environment necessary for Russian scientists and engineers to aid the development of Chinese military production.
Success in settling the border question and developing trade gradually evolved into strategic cooperation. Both Russia and China have sought the creation of a “multipolar world” as a means to prevent America’s unfettered global dominance. As a result, the two countries found benefit in blunting American initiatives by cooperating in areas as diverse as missile defense, Taiwan, Central Asia, and space policy.
These factors have formed the basis for a multi-faceted strategic partnership—one that, positive aspects of Russian-American and Chinese-American relations aside, has emerged as an unmistakable challenge to American interests in Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific.
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