China-Russia alliance can never work, despite US rivalry, observers say
- Beijing and Moscow are keen to boost cooperation and reduce their reliance on the US dollar, but ‘forging an alliance with Russia is not the best choice for China’, academic Cheng Yijun says
- ‘We should not forget that China’s rise is also a threat to Russia,’ he says
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet in Guilin on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
China and Russia have presented a united front in
denouncing US-led sanctions
against them but observers say there are limits to how close the giant neighbours can get.
“There is no doubt that the two countries are walking closer under the pressure from the US, but there are more differences than common ground between them,” Cheng Yijun, a specialist in China-Russia relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
“Forging an alliance with Russia is not the best choice for China.”
At a meeting in the south China city of Guilin on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov said they opposed unilateral sanctions and would find a way to counter them.
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China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet in Guilin on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters
China and Russia
have presented a united front in
denouncing US-led sanctions
against them but observers say there are limits to how close the giant neighbours can get.
“There is no doubt that the two countries are walking closer under the pressure from the US, but there are more differences than common ground between them,” Cheng Yijun, a specialist in China-Russia relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
“Forging an alliance with Russia is not the best choice for China.”
At a meeting in the south China city of Guilin on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov said they opposed unilateral sanctions and would find a way to counter them.
Both nations have faced challenges to their European ambitions recently.
During a visit to Brussels to meet foreign ministers from Nato countries,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
told his German counterpart that firms involved in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany – could face sanctions.
Russia and China were Nato’s biggest threats, he said, and called on America’s allies to “counter some of China’s aggressive and coercive actions”.
Beijing and Moscow are keen to boost cooperation and reduce their reliance on the US dollar, but ‘forging an alliance with Russia is not the best choice for China’, academic Cheng Yijun says.
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