China and Russia: Old friends team up again

Hong Kong : On his current tour of duty to China, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavroy noted on Tuesday that his country’s relationship with China had “reached an unprecedented level.”

He made his comments as the two giants, both of whom share an anxiety over US militarist policies and both of whom have veto power in the UN Security Council, reiterated their calibrated stand on the Iran nuclear standoff: China and Russia, he said, would not vote for the use of force in resolving the issue, and would instead favour dialogue and diplomacy.

This unambiguous articulation of policy places them diametrically opposite to the course of action preferred by the US, which is to push for a Security Council resolution to declare Iran’s nuclear enrichment program a threat to world peace and initiate military action, if necessary, in response.

The coming together of the two big powers, which faced each other with an element of mutual distrust for over 30 years, in a “strategic partnership” is not without geopolitical significance.

Moscow and Beijing have built on their economic relationship, which is founded on China’s need for Russian oil and natural gas, raw materials as well as weapons, and elevated it to a level where there is an increasing congruence to their worldviews.

Ted Carpenter, vice-president for defence and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, has, in comments to the Council of Foreign Relations, observed that the Sino-Soviet energy relationship “is a manifestation of their larger strategic relationship, which has the goal of containing the US.”

Over the past year, Presidents Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin met on no less than five occasions, most recently when Putin visited China in March; at one of those meetings, in July 2005, they issued a joint statement that pointedly criticised “the pursuit of monopoly or domination of world affairs” and the use — or threatened use — of force.

Recent developments, including the Pentagon’s characterisation earlier this year of China as a potential military threat, and US Vice-president Dick Cheney’s criticism of Russia’s lack of progress towards democracy, have only served to heighten these two countries’ wariness over US intentions.

Economic relations between their two countries too are on firm ground. Sino-Russian bilateral trade grew over 35 per cent last year, driven in large measure by China’s thirst for energy resources.

During Putin’s visit in March, the two countries signed nearly 30 agreements, but Russia didn’t deliver on one deal that China particularly wanted: a pipeline that would carry oil from Siberia to China’s northeastern region.

In addition, China, which faces a western arm embargo since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, looks to Russia for weaponry.

Russian media reports say the two countries are close to signing a $600 million deal under which Russia will supply amphibious anti-submarine Beriev Be-200 aircraft to China. China is also investing in securing oil and gas resources in Central Asia, in Russia’s backyard.

And given the Sino-Soviet stakes there, say analysts, the two countries are opposed to Western attempts to usher in democracy in the region, and have been using the platform of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to apply pressure on the US to shut down its military bases in Central Asia.

Next month’s meeting of the SCO, to which India has been invited as an observer, will perhaps witness more calibrated diplomatic efforts in that direction.
(To be continued)