Putin, Xi moot military technology cooperation - Indian Punchline
Putin, Xi moot military technology cooperation
The annual APEC summit has been gaining stature as a forum of political consultations and this year’s at Bali is particularly interesting against the backdrop of the slowdown in China’s growth, fallouts from the US government shutdown, regional conflicts, maritime disputes, Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement negotiations, US’ rebalancing strategy and so on.
One ‘bilateral’ that stood out was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The frequency of their meetings is increasing. Xi picked Russia for his first official tour abroad after becoming China’s president. Last month Xi and Putin participated in two events together — G20 in St. Petersburg and the SCO summit in Bishkek.
The transcript of the opening statements at the meeting in Bali makes careful reading. Putin noted that the Russian-Chinese coordination on international issues is “paying off.” This is a highly nuanced remark in terms of what Putin singled out as the “Syrian issues”.
Indeed, he implied the Russian-Chinese coordination at the UN Security Council, which ultimately made the western powers — US, UK and France — bend on the Syrian question.
Xi agreed with Putin and also mentioned Syria, but, interestingly enough, he bracketed it with the North Korea problem, where Xi said China and Russia have “similar or identical positions.” Indeed, Beijing counts on Moscow’s reciprocal support at the UN Security Council over the North Korean problem.
Xi pointedly expressed interest in Russia playing a “significant role” in the Asia-Pacific and in “intensifying” the Chinese Russian cooperation. He conveyed China’s acceptance of the Russian proposal to jointly celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, which in Beijing’s estimation holds resonance for the perceived militarism in the Japan’s outlook. Russia and China have common concerns over the deployment of the US’ missile defence system in Japan.
Both Putin and Xi highlighted the cooperation in “some very sensitive areas” (Putin) such as military technology. From the Indian perspective, this is of particular interest.
But then, as they say, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. It seems a matter of time before the burgeoning US-Indian partnership impacts on the Russian-Chinese cooperation in military technology, where Moscow has traditionally held back.
Of course, China stands to gain immensely if it gains access to Russia’s military technology. However, in the light of the India-US Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation on 28th September 2013 issued in Washington during the visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, how could India possibly have heartburn?
The US-Indian declaration underscores, “The United States and India share common security interests and place each other at the same level as their closest partners.” This is way beyond what either Putin or Xi said at their meeting in Bali regarding Russian-Chinese coordination
India is getting wedged in US-Russian rivalry ...
This is going to be a great strategic problem for India in near future ...
While prospect of US friendship to counteract China is alluring so is fear of losing Russia to China damning ...
India can't possibly maintain parity between US and Russia for long time ...
How India will accommodate this two arch rivals is a million dollar question ???
While India continues to get closer to US it can't complain about convergence of Sino-Russian interests !
and it is going to take more than diplomacy to negotiate this delicate act !!!
Putin, Xi moot military technology cooperation
The annual APEC summit has been gaining stature as a forum of political consultations and this year’s at Bali is particularly interesting against the backdrop of the slowdown in China’s growth, fallouts from the US government shutdown, regional conflicts, maritime disputes, Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement negotiations, US’ rebalancing strategy and so on.
One ‘bilateral’ that stood out was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. The frequency of their meetings is increasing. Xi picked Russia for his first official tour abroad after becoming China’s president. Last month Xi and Putin participated in two events together — G20 in St. Petersburg and the SCO summit in Bishkek.
The transcript of the opening statements at the meeting in Bali makes careful reading. Putin noted that the Russian-Chinese coordination on international issues is “paying off.” This is a highly nuanced remark in terms of what Putin singled out as the “Syrian issues”.
Indeed, he implied the Russian-Chinese coordination at the UN Security Council, which ultimately made the western powers — US, UK and France — bend on the Syrian question.
Xi agreed with Putin and also mentioned Syria, but, interestingly enough, he bracketed it with the North Korea problem, where Xi said China and Russia have “similar or identical positions.” Indeed, Beijing counts on Moscow’s reciprocal support at the UN Security Council over the North Korean problem.
Xi pointedly expressed interest in Russia playing a “significant role” in the Asia-Pacific and in “intensifying” the Chinese Russian cooperation. He conveyed China’s acceptance of the Russian proposal to jointly celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, which in Beijing’s estimation holds resonance for the perceived militarism in the Japan’s outlook. Russia and China have common concerns over the deployment of the US’ missile defence system in Japan.
Both Putin and Xi highlighted the cooperation in “some very sensitive areas” (Putin) such as military technology. From the Indian perspective, this is of particular interest.
But then, as they say, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. It seems a matter of time before the burgeoning US-Indian partnership impacts on the Russian-Chinese cooperation in military technology, where Moscow has traditionally held back.
Of course, China stands to gain immensely if it gains access to Russia’s military technology. However, in the light of the India-US Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation on 28th September 2013 issued in Washington during the visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, how could India possibly have heartburn?
The US-Indian declaration underscores, “The United States and India share common security interests and place each other at the same level as their closest partners.” This is way beyond what either Putin or Xi said at their meeting in Bali regarding Russian-Chinese coordination
India is getting wedged in US-Russian rivalry ...
This is going to be a great strategic problem for India in near future ...
While prospect of US friendship to counteract China is alluring so is fear of losing Russia to China damning ...
India can't possibly maintain parity between US and Russia for long time ...
How India will accommodate this two arch rivals is a million dollar question ???
While India continues to get closer to US it can't complain about convergence of Sino-Russian interests !
and it is going to take more than diplomacy to negotiate this delicate act !!!
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