--By Alexander Lukin, Vice President, The Diplomatic Academy, Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation

What does a Stronger China Mean for Russia?

Over the last 30 years, China has made an historical leap out of backwardness toward becoming a modern, developed society. The country still has many problems, but one thing is clear: China is transforming itself from a poor, politically unstable country shaken by various vicissitudes into a powerful state capable of exerting significant influence on not only regional politics, but on global politics as well. During the same period, Russia has grown significantly weaker. In comparison to the Soviet period, Russia's political weight in the world community has decreased, although it remains a major and influential state.

Today, Russian-Chinese relations are at the peak of their development. It is officially stated that China and Russia are bound together by a "relationship of strategic partnership and mutual benefit". This and other similar formulations are not empty slogans or the decaying remnants of the ambitions of the countries' leaders. Rather, the Sino-Russian partnership is based on genuine national interests of the two states.

Cooperation with China is extremely important to Russia's international interests. China shares Russia's vision of a future multipolar world structure. In practical terms, that means both countries would like to see a world that is not dominated by only a single power, but one marked by cooperation between several centers of influence and guided by international law and the charter of the United Nations. Behind the ideal of a multipolar world an obvious reality lies hidden: Russia and China, as well as several other states, are large enough to have their own interests and their own approaches to the issues of regional and global development. They are not satisfied with a world order completely dominated by a single major power that does not take their interests into account. However, they are fully content with the post-World War II world structure with its system of international law in which the U.N. Security Council is the highest authority. Their status as permanent members of the Security Council places them on equal standing with the United States – a state that in every other respect is more powerful therefore naturally trying to alter the system that is fettering its possibilities.

Further, both Russia and China dislike being told by others how to manage their internal policies, referring to it as "interference in domestic affairs," and they similarly support each other in the battle against separatism. That is precisely why both countries have recently been speaking out for preserving the principles of international law and the status of the United Nations, why they have been coordinating their votes at the U.N. on fundamental problems facing the world, and have been taking a unified stance regarding negotiations on Iran, the Korean Peninsula, Kosovo, Syria and many other thorny issues in world politics.

Russia needs to have good relations with China not only for political reasons, but for economic reasons as well. China is one of Russia's important strategic partners, and thanks to that connection with China (and with other Asian countries) Russian politics become better-rounded and less one-sided. In the process, Russia also becomes one of the centers of global influence.

China is also one of Russia's most important partners in the economic sphere, and this cooperation is necessary primarily for the development of Siberia and the Russian Far East. Moreover, China is an important regional partner for Russia: Within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China, together with Russia, promotes the resolution of common problems in Central Asia – the struggle against religious extremism and terrorism, the support of secular regimes, as well as economic and social development for the states in this region. In this way, cooperation with China objectively strengthens Russia's position as an independent power center on the international stage.

China is also interested in Russia as a geopolitical and economic partner, although it must be recognized that in its current condition, Russia plays a far lesser role in Chinese politics than China plays in Russia's politics. All the same, for a number of reasons, China prefers that Russia be stable and strong – though perhaps not too powerful. Beijing sees a stable Russia that is capable of becoming an independent power center as serving as a counterweight of sorts in China's partner-rival relationship with the United States and Western Europe. Russia serves as one of the guarantors capable of ensuring China's "free and independent" foreign policy. The stable situation on its border with Russia, and on the borders with its other neighbors, is of great significance for China's development – that is, for carrying out the goals set by the country's current leadership. Finally, Russia constitutes an extremely important source of various commodities that China either cannot obtain from other countries (such as armaments), or else can purchase in only limited quantities elsewhere (such as oil, lumber and other raw materials). This is why in recent years Beijing has taken a purposeful and constructive approach to resolving border, migration and bilateral trade issues. China would like to see Russia as a stable and economically developed country. China is ready to constructively assist in the development of Russia's border regions, and does not understand Russian fears of its intentions or its inactivity in addressing its own need to develop manufacturing, create a favorable investment climate, develop the Far East regions, and so on.

At the same time, both Moscow and Beijing understand perfectly well the value of having constructive relations with the West – which both countries find extremely necessary for strengthening their own positions in the international arena, for solving important international goals (such as the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction), as well as the goal of economic development. That is why China and Russia oppose the creation of an anti-Western military alliance. Thus, a close, constructive and cooperative relationship that does not go to the extremes of mutual hostility on the one hand, or forming a military alliance on the other, is fully in accordance with the interests of both Russia and China.

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