Sino-Russian cooperation calls for balancing interests
- By Cui Heng
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E-mail China.org.cn, October 17, 2014
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Premier Li Keqiang attends a welcoming ceremony as he arrives in Moscow on Sunday for a three-day visit. [zhang duo/Xinhua] |
Premier Li Keqiang's latest visit to Moscow represents his first Russia trip as the top Chinese government leader. The trip has received much international attention in part because any high-level encounter between the two countries amid the EU sanctions against Moscow is worthy of notice. Li's Russia tour, arranged between his visits to Germany and Italy, reflects China's diplomatic consideration.
The Ukrainian political crisis, which started in March of this year, was seen as a geopolitical clash between Russia and Europe, similar to other periodical clashes in recent decades. But a reflection on the crisis would suggest that it has changed our era. "A new international order parallel to the current one will emerge," Zhang Xin, a scholar at East China Normal University noted.
Some Western countries, headed by the United States, frequently threaten economic sanctions against Russia to achieve their political goals, only to find the Kremlin composed at countering every single Western threat. As Russia's "de-dolarization" continues, the country is resorting to different international reserve currencies and a different payment system. Russia is also seeking new trade partners and trying to establish new free trade zones to minimize the negative impact, if any, from traditional partners such as the United States and the European Union.
The decision to schedule Premier Li's Russia visit between his trips to Germany and Italy was risky, because tensions between the EU and Russia had already made the elite in Berlin and Rome nervous. Any comments on the tension could stir up resentment either from Russia or the European Union.
In response to the tense Russia-EU relationship, most state leaders would try to avoid meeting both sides at the same time, but the Chinese premier's purposefully planned trip is evidence of China's successful diplomacy, particularly under the "new type of relationship among major powers." In the "new type of relationship," China-Russia and China-EU cooperation does not go against a third party, meaning that there is no need to choose sides.
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