Sino-Russian Relations in Triangular Contexts

Introduction to Special Forum on Sino-Russian Relations in Triangular Context

The year 2013 is memorable for the increasing liveliness of discussions about the future of Sino-Russian relations. When Xi Jinping made his first visit as president in March to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin, whose posture in starting his third term as president was decidedly more critical of the United States, interest was mounting in how much closer bilateral relations would be. Already there we..

Editorial Staff
November 22,2013

Japan-Russia Relations in Triangular Context with China

While attention is riveted to Sino-Japanese relations and, lately, has increasingly focused also on Sino-Russian relations, Japan’s relations with Russia have drawn little notice. To the extent that interest has risen in 2013, it has centered largely on negotiations over the territorial dispute. The strategic dimension is neglected. This article starts with an assessment of Russian strategic thi..

Hyodo Shinji*
2+2 Meetings , Arctic Council , Japan-Russia maritime cooperation , joint military exercises , Okhotsk Sea , Putin , Russia’s Far East exercises , Senkaku (Diaoyu)
November 22,2013

Russia’s China Challenge in a Changing Asia: An American Perspective

Russia’s relations with China have steadily improved for about twenty years after a brief, strong, pro-Western tilt in Russian foreign policy right after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992.1 The weakening political position of the Gaidar government by late 1992 and the defeat of pro-Western liberal parties Russia’s Choice and Yabloko in the 1993 parliamentary elections were correlated wi..

Andrew Kuchins
Axis of necessity , complementarity , distrust , natural gas politics , oil politics , Russia’s pivot to Asia , Russian diversification in Asia , swing state
November 22,2013

Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership Cooperative Relations and the US Factor

After the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, Sino-Soviet relations became Sino-Russian relations. For more than twenty years, these relation ns have developed extremely smoothly, and the leaders of both countries consider today’s relations to be better than they have ever been historically. Many factors have propelled these relations forward, but the most important are internal factors i..

Li Jingjie*
long-term overlapping interests , mutual economic need , new type of bilateral relationship , Smoothly developing relations , triangularity , US rebalancing
November 22,2013

Sino-Russian Competition in Mongolia

In recent years China and Russia have presented a solid façade of “strategic partnership,” with leaders emphasizing complementarity of national interests and common approaches to many international problems as reasons they work hand-in-hand. Beijing and Moscow have dismissed suggestions that their relationship is, in fact, plagued by hidden tensions as Western fabrications. Yet, there must be..

Sergey Radchenko
Commercial competition , Elbegdorj , Enkhbayar , indirect undercutting , mining , third neighbor policy , trans-Mongolian railroad
November 22,2013

China-Russia Relations in Central Asia

China-Russia relations in Central Asia are attracting increasing attention from scholars and policymakers. Most analysis thus far, however, has employed the competition framework in examining this relationship. In contrast to these studies, this article argues that since the independence of Central Asia, the relationship between the two great powers in the region has been predominantly that of coo..

Zhao Huasheng*
economic integration , limited competition , mutual strategic interests , natural resources , rules of the game , SCO , Silk Route Economic Zone , the US factor