china’s crash course: how a turbulent year derailed reform

What are the platforms of regional development?

At a meeting of the prime ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Premier Li announced six platforms for regional development: security, production capacity, connectivity, financial cooperation, regional trade cooperation, and cooperation to improve the lives of the people of the SCO’s six members and their dialogue partners. [9] Li and Medvedev also released a statement vowing to play a “constructive role” in the resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue. [10] Despite the PRC’s long-standing opposition to economic sanctions against countries, China’s largely still state-controlled press reported without comment on Russia’s decision to impose food embargoes on Ukraine in retaliation for Kyiv’s participation in a free-trade agreement with the European Union. [11] Moscow has supported Beijing’s position on the numerous disputed territories in the East and South China seas; Beijing has in turn supported Moscow on the Kurils, which the USSR took from Japanese control after World War II. Tokyo’s insistence that they be returned has thus far precluded the two signing a peace treaty formally ending the war. Some analysts believe that there is a tacit understanding between Putin and Xi Jinping that China will give Russia a free hand in Eastern Europe in return for Russia’s understanding of Chinese hegemony in Asia.

Will the US find common cause with Russia?

Whether these cracks in public solidarity will become fissures depends on a number of factors. For one, it is conceivable that the U.S. will find common cause with Russia. The Obama administration’s 2009 effort at what it called a reset failed due to Washington’s resistance to Putin’s annexation of the Crimea, pressure on the Ukrainian government, and support of the Assad government in Syria. [24] But were a new administration to accept Russia’s fait accompli in Crimea and agree to cooperate against the Islamic State in Syria while Putin ceased backing subversive activities in Ukraine, an important pillar of support for the Sino-Russian strategic partnership would be removed. Many Russians feel that their country has more to gain from a closer relationship with the West than with China. Chinese analysts appear to be watching this possibility carefully: taking note of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s two trips to Moscow, a commentator in Global Times opined that the United States would “have” to end its isolation of Russia. [25]

Do the PRC and Russia cooperate?

Sharing common authoritarian values and a common adversary in the United States, the PRC and Russia can be expected to continue to cooperate in the near term on what Chinese media describe as mutual benefit. Yet there are concerns that, while the cooperation may be mutually beneficial, the benefits are far from equally distributed, leading to friction between them. And, although Xi Jinping does not challenge Russia’s moves in Ukraine nor Putin criticize China’s assertive behavior in the East China and South China seas, neither wants to become enmeshed in the foreign policy problems of the other. Note that, for all the talk of solidarity, the two continue to eschew the word alliance, preferring instead the more limited term “strategic partnership.”