Since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has been a country wanting to regain power. With President Vladimir Putin leading the Russian campaign, many expected a continual growth, what they did not expect were the relations formed with their once enemy China.
For many years the two communist countries had an alliance, though it continued to break down. It was during Richards Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 that relationships were frayed. Since then China has began to prosper, with a constantly growing economy, to create the Confucian academies around the globe to promote their culture and using soft power to their advantage. However Russia has pulled further away from the EU, due to sanctions on trade related to the annexation of Crimea. The further Russia has moved from the EU though; they have formed closer ties with China.
On May 8th, 2015, the relations between China and Russia came to a diplomatic victory when President Putin and Xi Jinping met, commemorating the 70 years anniversary of the end of WWII and the surrender of the Nazism regime in Moscow. Important economic meetings where held hoping to join the two countries, by forming a “joint investment bank”.
The meeting became a success for both countries as they signed 32agreements, including the financing of a new project of train in Russia. They also will be working with Byelorussia and Kazakhstan to promote the EAEU -the Eurasian Economic Union-.
This was not the first deal to be signed by the two countries as recently China and Russia agreed upon a $400 billion contract for gas, as well as several new agricultural business ventures in the Chinese region of Heilongjiang, which is in the northernmost part of the country.
The meeting coincides with the publication of the text of Fidel Castro “Our right to be Marxist-Leninists” where he talked about the Sino-Russian relations:
Russia and China are more likely to become allies since they have been supporting each other for a long time. As Xi Jinping stated “decades ago, the Chinese and Russian nations shared weal and woe and forged an unbreakable war friendship with fresh blood,” he wrote. “Today, the two peoples will jointly move forward, safeguarding peace and promoting development […]” However, Russia has four myths which act as a handicap to drive the alliance process further. These myths are:
- China is growing and developing at a constant and continuous speed
- Several Chinese citizens will migrate to Siberia since both countries share a huge border
- If they finally agree to become allies Russia’s main concern is about becoming too close to China that ends up depending on it, specially on economic means
- They are both big countries and are worried about the security of the country, which causes mistrust between the countries they share borders with and is probably the basis of all the reasons why China and Russia haven’t become allies yet
