U.S. pressure could make China, Russia unlikely allies
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — From this Pacific port to a Siberian training range 900 miles away, China and Russia are sending an unambiguous message to Washington on Tuesday: Under American pressure, these historic rivals are becoming allies.
In Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping as the headline guest at an annual conference focused on Russia’s Far East. In Siberia, more than 3,000 Chinese troops joined Russian soldiers for drills in which drones, paratroopers, artillery and warplanes were to be deployed in a mock battle.
The upshot: Two countries that had long considered each other potential military adversaries are now partners in confronting the United States.
“Both countries are trying to signal: If the United States pushes too far, we are going to move closer to each other,” said Alexander Gabuev, chairman of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank.
Washington is fighting a trade war with China and imposing mounting sanctions on Russia. The Trump administration has reoriented the U.S. national security strategy toward “great power competition” with Russia andChina, describing both countries as seeking to “shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests.”
China’s mounting tensions with Washington have raised the value in Beijing’s eyes of Russia’s military technology and experience, analysts say. For Putin, meanwhile, Western sanctions are making China’s economic might more attractive as he searches for new allies.
“The Chinese right now are sending a clear signal that, one, they don’t see Russia as a threat, which already should be a concern to the United States,” said Michael Kofman, senior research scientist at CNA, a federally funded research organization.
The joint exercises that started Tuesday represent the first time that China has joined Russia’s annual strategic exercise, a role typically reserved for Moscow’s closest allies. The deepening military bond between MoscowandBeijing, analysts say, gives China valuable access to Russian military technology and to Russia’s field experience in Syria and Ukraine.
Russia in recent years started selling China some of its most advanced weapons, including the S-400 surfaceto-air missile system and the Su-35 fourth-generation fighter jet. Such sales had been hindered in the past by Moscow’s worries about China as a potential adversary and that it would steal the technology.
But amid Russia’s conflict with the West, those worries have mostly dissipated. “There’s no question that international tensions have contributed to the tightening of Russian- Chinese bonds,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said in July.
Xi gave Putin a boost Tuesday by bringing a delegation of nearly 1,000 Chinese businesspeople and officials to the Eastern Economic Forum, a Putin-led effort to lure foreign investment to Russia’s remote Asian reaches.
“You and I work together mostclosely,” Xi told Putin at the start of their meeting. “I’m prepared to further deepen our exchange of views and our tight coordination, both today and in the future.”