1、The Russia-China Partnership,PAST 20 YEARS DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIA-CHINA PARTNERSHIP One of the most important legacies of the Gorbachev era 1989: Normalization of USSR-China relationship 1992: Upgrading the relationship in Beijing 1996: Concept of Strategic Partnership announced in Shanghai 1999: fir
2、st joint naval exercises 2001: Treaty for Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation, signed in Moscow 1995-2007: Full settlement of the border issues Economic and military cooperation Same positions on most international issues, joint diplomatic initiatives, growing coordination of foreign pol
3、icies,Not an alliance (3 disappointing precedents: 1895, 1945, 1950) But a new type of relationship between two major powers What is new: Context: globalization and multipolarity Power trends The 2 countries, adapting to the realities of the globalized post-Cold War world, are discovering more and m
4、ore points of common interest and concern and acting together A growing factor in Eurasian and global politics,What is the norm for the four-century old relations? Very few conflicts (if one compares this relationship with others) Russias wars with Sweden, Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Turkey, I
5、ran With China: When Russia was expanding into Siberia: minor clashes with Cossack settlers in the Primorskiy Krai, 17th century The Qing Empire was very strong at the time, it was not a matter of Russian domination,Late 19th century: Russia dominant, takes advantage of Qing decay Russias participat
6、ion in the suppression of the Ihetuan (Boxer) Rebellion in 1900 The conflict over the China Eastern RR, 1928 The Damansky Island clash, 1969 Indirect conflicts in Afghanistan and Vietnam No large-scale military conflict between the two states Russia is the only country with which China has entered i
7、nto an alliance with 3 times over the past century!,Parallel experiences: Major setback for both empires in the 1840s-1850s: Britain as the main driver, the global hegemon at the time Lost wars with Japan at the turn of the 20th century Revolutions and fall of the two empires (Russia, 1905-07, China
8、, 1911, Russia, 1917) Civil wars Alliance in WWII Alliance in the most dangerous period of the Cold War (on the same side in Korea and Vietnam) Imperial revival under Communist regimes,Ideological affinity 1917 was a major watershed Bolshevik anti-imperialism (incl. Russian) The science of revolutio
9、n Systemic emulation (Soviet modernization model for Mao, Chinas market reforms for Gorbachev),What led to the rift in the 1960s: Out of phase ideologically Soviet abandonment of Stalinism and attempts at rapprochement with the US at a time when Maoism was just getting into its high gear and relatio
10、ns with the US were on the verge of war “Soviet revisionism” Later, under Brezhnevs more conservative leadership Full-fledged clash between the two foreign policies Soviet hegemony in the comm. movement, influence in the 3d world,But then geopolitics played the decisive role - Nixon moved to support
11、 Beijing in its standoff with Moscow Triangular balancing Relations began to normalize when ideological change came to USSR with Gorbachev,Role of US From 1970s till 2000s, the US generally regarded China as a geopolitical ally And it has built a massive economic relationship with China Collapse of
12、USSR made geopolitical reliance on US almost irrelevant for China Meanwhile, geopolitical cooperation with Russia developed Under Bush Jr., US has tended to regard China as a rising threat And it put Russia under growing pressure through its security policies Shared security concerns,So, if we are w
13、itnessing today a remarkable scope of cooperation with minimal differences, it should not be surprising, because cooperation is historically a more normal mode of Sino-Russian relations than the familiar China-Soviet split of the 1960s-1980s What brings the two countries together and what generates
14、differences (not conflicts, not tensions, not even frictions) between them?,Power trends: Systemic crisis in Russia successful reforms in China Collapse of the Soviet Union growth of China Compared to the past, an unprecedented interplayQing Romanov USSR ROC and PRC,Population, 2007: China 1,322 mln
15、. Growth rate 0.6% Russia 141 mln. Decline rate 0.5% If current population trends continue, by 2050: China will rise the level of 1.5 bln. Russia will fall to the level of 100 mln.,Population of border regions Russian Far East 7.5 mln. Chinas Heilunxian Province 120 mln. Maritime Province: 2.3 mln.
16、China: 70 mln.,China: GDP, PPP $7 trln. GDP per capita - $5,300 Real growth rate 11.4%Russia: GDP, PPP - $2 trln. GDP per capita - $14,600 Real growth rate 7.6%,Expenditures on R&D, 2003, % of GDP: China 1.3% Russia 0.3% Number of people employed in the R&D sector, 1995-2003: China: increase from 47
17、0,000 to 820,000 Russia: decline from 804,000 to 411,000 Now, China is offering investments in Russian R&D- Tatyana Chesnokova and Natalia Cherkesova, Rossia Delete? 2030 god: Globalnaya skhvatka tsivilizatsiy. M., Yauza-EKSMO, 2007,Comprehensive national power, Chinese calculations: United States 9
18、0.62 Britain 65.04 Russia 63.03 France 62.00 Germany 61.93 China 59.10 Japan 57.84 Canada 57.09 South Korea 53.20 India 50.43,Geopolitics Global level Opposition to US hegemony and unilateral use of force Support of multilateralism Economic cooperation with all Opposition to new arms races Regional
19、level Demarcation of the borders Stability in Asia Hostility to Islamism,Trade and investment Russia to China: Energy resources, raw materials, arms, technology transfers China to Russia: Consumer goods Asymmetrical Quality of trade remains unsatisfactory Investment goal: $12 bln. by 2020 Trade rema
20、ins a major link between US and China Russias interest in technological dvelopment Chinas offers, money, joint ventures Symbiosis is possible,The volume of Sino-Russian trade is 2 percent of Chinas total foreign trade, or 1/10th the amount of Chinas trade with the United States, 1/9th of that with J
21、apan, 1/8th of that with the European Union, and 1/6th of that with South Korea. Putin has sought to promote sales of Russian industrial goods, but China is not much interested in anything except commodities and arms. It does not take much looking in the Russian press, moreover, to find articles sug
22、gesting that imports of Chinese goods are threatening whole sectors of Russian industry, or that it is unwise to sell weapons to a large and dynamic country that poses a potential strategic and demographic threat to Siberia.,Ideology Market authoritarianism (left-wing in China, right-wing in Russia)
23、 State-capitalist models Defence of sovereignty in the face of globalization Opposition to Western democracy promotion,Russia-China Economic links underdeveloped, political relations excellent US-China Developed economic links, political relations cool US-Russia Minimal economic links, political rel
24、ations deteriorating This puts Russia at a disadvantage,Russian public opinion Russia-ChinaRussian public attitudes, 2007.doc In a 2007 opinion poll, conducted among listeners of the popular radio station “Echo of Moscow”, 74% endorsed the opinion that Russia must conclude an alliance with China to
25、counterbalance the US. “Together, well become bigger than the Americans”, wrote one listener.,“China is a great country from which we should learn a lot qualities like resourcefulness, initiative, persistence, hard work. I dont understand those who see China as an enemy. China is our closest neighbo
26、ur and strategic partner. If your neighbour is richer and more successful than you, you shouldnt undermine him instead, you should try hard to improve your own performance. Likewise, we Russians should not envy China and foster an enemy image. We should strive to reach the same level of economic dev
27、elopment and of national cohesion. Everyone would only benefit from that” Gennady Lysak, Russian businessman, provincial MP in Primorskiy kray* - , Konkurent.ru, 2006-01-16,Russias place in Chinese foreign policy Not the No.1 priority But a key partner It is important to keep Russia friendly, and to
28、 team up with it China is using Russia But economic relations with the West are far more important,Chinas place in Russian foreign policy Neither is it priority No.1 Relations with the West more important Russia is using ChinaRussias growing rift with the West World public opinion on Russia,A balanc
29、e of interests Each others strategic rear Gradually, the two sides are finding more and more uses for their partnership,Academician V. Myasnikov: “The level of strategic partnership, one rung below that of a full-fledged alliance, has a number of advantages. Unlike an alliance, the partnership does
30、not make Russia responsible for any of Chinas actions, nor does it involve major commitments which would limit Russias freedom of maneouvre. At the same time, it does increase mutual trust between the two countries. Finally, the partnership, acting through the various geopolitical “polygons”, stimul
31、ates other powers to try to develop their relations with both Russia and China up to the level of Russian-Chinese relations. This last point is currently more advantageous for China, but Russia also benefits from the fact that other powers are interested in preventing an even closer rapprochement be
32、tween Russia and China.” http:/asiapacific.narod.ru/countries/china/o_rossiysko_kit_otnosheniah.htm China, too, is wary of alliances, prefers more flexible forms of relations,Power trends Russia is behind, and falling farther back China feels confident, Russia uncertain China has the initiative, Rus
33、sia reacts Russia wont be able to compete with China Russia may be marginalized Especially if its relations with the West should deteriorate There is a logic in the idea of balancing out China But such balancing out is considered by China as a major threat to be neutralized So, the balancing can onl
34、y be done through multilateral organizations,China is not afraid of Russias rise It welcomes it while the West is concerned This draws Russia closer to China In Russia, rise of China generates some concerns Asymmetry of perceptions Still, cooperation deepens,Sources of problems 1.Competition for Cen
35、tral Asian oil and gas 2.Both sides interest in multipolarity, in balancing each other out may create distrust For instance, if Russia moves too close to the US Or, if China teams up with US to contain Russia 3.Trade issues: disappointment on both sides with quality 4.Russian concerns about Chinese
36、takeover of the Russian Far EastBut: its a network instead of a hierarchy,Bad scenarios 1. A China-Russia anti-Western alliance 2. A China-Russia war Neither is very likely The prospects for the partnership are good And the partnership poses no threat to others It is not a problem for Eurasia It is
37、a solution,Amb. Denisov: “It is a good example of how two major states belonging to different sociopolitical and cultural-civilizational models have managed to find mutually acceptable solutions to the immensely complex and delicate problems inherited from history, in the first place, the border iss
38、ue, and to work out a model of peaceful and goodneighborly coexistence. Russian-Chinese relations have reached a qualitatively new level, that of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.”,Amb. Denisov: “Russia and China are two great powers and Permanent Members of the United Nations Sec
39、urity Council. In recent years the emergence at the global and regional levels of new acute international problems, challenges and threats has predetermined a multitude of new points of contact and spheres of real cooperation for Russia and China. A fruitful bilateral partnership in international af
40、fairs is based on the similarity of national interests of Russia and China, on the identity of approaches of Moscow and Beijing to the key global problems - future world pattern, strategic stability, central role of the United Nations, in international affairs and so on. Given the attempts to use th
41、e globalization for gaining unilateral economic and geopolitical advantages, the upholding by Russia and China of the principles of multilateralism in international affairs, respect for sovereignty of states and the rights of peoples to an independent choice of their development road has a special importance.”,
