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"Global Insider: Russia-China Military Ties Growing Despite Friction"

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin sit at Chebarkul testing range. Russian and Chinese forces held their first joint maneuvers on Russia's territory.
AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service

"Global Insider: Russia-China Military Ties Growing Despite Friction"

Q&A with Simon Saradzhyan

Magazine or Newspaper Article, World Politics Review

April 26, 2012

Author: Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: The US-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism

 

How has Russia-China military and defense cooperation evolved over the past 10 years?

The bilateral military cooperation has developed steadily thanks to a general rapprochement between China and post-Communist Russia that is based on strong economic ties and on convergence of the two countries’ interests in opposing of global domination by the United States; development of U.S. missile defenses and expansion of NATO; and regime changes in third countries.

The military-to-military aspect of the bilateral cooperation has been particularly robust.  The past decade has seen the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (AFRF) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) hold multiple exercises both in the bilateral format and in the format of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

But while the military-to-military aspect of the bilateral relationship has been developing steadily, the military-technical cooperation has been in decline. The bilateral arms trade peaked at $4 billion in 2000, but has been declining since then and is now forecast to average $1.5-$2 billion, according to the Russian government’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

For the full Q&A, please go to: http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/trend-lines/11892/global-insider-russia-china-military-ties-growing-despite-friction

 

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/trend-lines/11892/global-insider-russia-china
-military-ties-growing-despite-friction

For Academic Citation:

Saradzhyan, Simon. "Global Insider: Russia-China Military Ties Growing Despite Friction." World Politics Review, April 26, 2012.

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