Russian Foreign Policy in 2020: Strengthening Multi-vectoralism
Niklas Swanström
Sino-Russian Relations: Expectations, Illusions, and General Trends
by Niklas Swanström
Abstract
China and Russia have consistently been building strategic cooperation between one another. Even as Russia has sometimes used the word “alliance” to describe their relations, China has methodologically refrained from using it. In real terms, the relationship is still far from being an alliance. However, for the first time, the term is not so misplaced. If not an alliance, however, can bilateral relations between the two countries be labelled as a “marriage of convenience”? Indeed, the initial reasons for closer ties were more a result of isolation and conflict with the West than anything substantial, but the relationship has developed into something much more concrete and concerning today.
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