During his June visit to Russia, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin upgraded China-Russia ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era, with the two sides aligning their development strategies, expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in economy and trade, and giving priority to political, security and people-to-people exchanges, as well as international coordination and cooperation.

The two states also issued a joint statement on strengthening contemporary global strategic stability, showing their united stance on safeguarding multilateralism and a peaceful global order.

A transition

Sino-Russian relations have evolved from the Soviet Union era to the present times. China and the Soviet Union forged alliances in the 1950s and 1960s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, China and Russia established strategic cooperation and partnership in 1996. From then on, the bilateral ties have further strengthened. In 2018, the Sino-Russian trade volume surpassed $100 billion. Bilateral strategic projects with an investment of $120 billion are underway.

The relationship is guided by several principles such as mutual assistance and respect, good neighborliness and friendship, mutual support and accommodation, and cooperation and win-win solution. It is also non-aligned and non-confrontational.

China and Russia cooperate closely in regional and global governance, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, and both are members of regional groupings like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS. Both are members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and BRICS's New Development Bank. A model of good-neighborliness, the China-Russia relationship is also a model of common development for other BRICS countries.

In May 2015, China and Russia agreed to synergize their respective development initiatives, the Silk Road Economic Belt, the overland prong of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Xi in 2013, and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) for greater connectivity. In 2018, China and the EAEU signed an agreement to facilitate trade and economic cooperation, the first institutionalized arrangement between the two, providing an institutional guarantee for later cooperation. China will promote negotiations on the Eurasian economic partnership agreement with Russia.

In addition, Putin attended both the first and second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017 and this year, Xi attended the Eastern Economic Forum hosted by Russia in 2018 and the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum during his June visit, indicating the interest of the two leaders in developing multinational partnerships.

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Greater Eurasian Partnership, Putin's proposal for a common free trade area extending from the Ural Mountains in Russia to Portugal, could also supplement each other. In addition, China and Russia could jointly promote the Polar Silk Road that will develop shipping routes in the Arctic. Such cooperation will not only facilitate Sino-Russian cooperation but also stimulate world economic growth.

China and Russia have made progress in policy coordination, infrastructure connection, trade facilitation, financial integration and people-to-people connections as well as industry production. Capacity cooperation is a driver of the bilateral ties, especially in economic relations, advancing cooperation in energy, transportation infrastructure, technology and exploration of the Arctic.

The Yamal liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Russia, a joint venture between China, Russia, the United States and some European countries, is an example of capacity cooperation. China is a major buyer of LNG produced from the project. Russia's locational advantages, ice-breaking technology and experience combined with China's investment and market potential have produced win-win results.

Strategic cooperation

China and Russia have also worked closely on global and regional strategic issues, sharing the same or similar stance. They have coordinated on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the Iran nuclear issue and other issues concerning regional and global peace and stability.

Both being permanent members of the UN Security Council and major nuclear powers, China and Russia shoulder special responsibility in international security and development. They jointly oppose the United States' unilateral withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the arms control treaty signed between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1987, and the U.S. pursuit of space militarization and surveillance of other countries. They have also objected to U.S. power politics and sanctions and intervention in other countries.

China and Russia have also opposed double standard on combating terrorism. Some countries tend to acknowledge as terrorist forces only those threatening the U.S. and its allies. At times, they have factored geopolitical calculations into the war against terrorism for their own gain.

On some regional and global hot issues, China and Russia have remained committed to their position in the face of Western aggression and dominance. They both concur that the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue should be solved in stages with the efforts of both the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the U.S. and object to the U.S. approach of trying to force Pyongyang to make unilateral concessions. On the Palestine-Israel issue, they both oppose the U.S. bias toward Israel and advocate international justice and fairness.

The two countries jointly oppose hegemony, unilateralism and protectionism, and oppose interference in other countries' internal affairs and long-armed jurisdiction. They advocate following international law and adhering to the basic norms of international relations with the UN at the core. They also advocate striking a balance between justice and one's own interests and upholding one's own fine traditions while respecting others', and disagree with the clash of civilizations theory and unilateral economic sanctions. They oppose the single development model and advocate various development roads.

China has put forward the ideas of peaceful development, building a harmonious world, shaping a new type of international relations and building a community with a shared future for humanity. Russia proposed the Greater Eurasian Partnership, which seeks pan-regional economic cooperation in the context of the new economic situation.

China and Russia have proposed their solutions to many major international issues. For example, they have stood against the U.S. action in pulling out of the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear agreement. They have become the most internationally representative countries in the non-Western world and a force supporting world peace, stability and security.

In today's new era, when the world faces changes unseen in a century, Sino-Russian ties have forged a partnership without allying against a third country. They have resolved the Heixiazi Island issue, the island that they share, reaching an understanding on border delineation in 2008 in the spirit of accommodation. They have cooperated in diplomacy to contribute their wisdom and put forward their own solutions to regional and global governance issues, offering a different choice to the world.

Milestones in Bilateral Ties

• China and Russia agreed to upgrade their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era on June 5 during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia. The two governments agreed to take bilateral ties to a higher level and better benefit the peoples of the two countries and the world as well;

• A joint statement on deepening the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership signed on July 4, 2017 promotes deeper political mutual trust, security cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and international coordination;

• A joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination and advocating win-win cooperation was signed on May 8, 2015, as well as a joint statement on cooperation to align the Silk Road Economic Belt, the overland component of the Belt and Road Initiative, with the Eurasian Economic Union ;

• A joint statement on a new stage of the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination signed on May 20, 2014 has led to energy cooperation;

• A joint statement on win-win cooperation and deepening the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination issued on March 22, 2013 saw China and Russia agree to support each other's right to choose the path of development and social and political systems they favor as well as on issues of core interests such as sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The author is a professor with Beijing Normal University

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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