Sino-Russian alliance not on the cards, says German envoy Michael Clauss
German envoy says there are still too many differences for nations to gang up on West
China and Russia are unlikely to form an alliance against the West despite presenting a united front on several conflicts, the German ambassador to China, Michael Clauss, says.
Clauss told the South China Morning Post that while there was common ground, it would be an exaggeration to claim they were forming a bloc, as they still "have diverging views on many other issues", including the Ukraine crisis.
At a security summit in Shanghai last month, President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin vowed to oppose interference in the domestic affairs of other countries and opposed unilateral sanctions - a move widely seen as targeting the United States.
Beijing views Washington's security support to Japan and the Philippines, which are involved in bitter territorial disputes with China in the South and East China Seas, as trespassing on its national interest.
Bolstering their ties, Russia and China recently held joint naval exercises around the sensitive East China Sea.
But Clauss pointed out that China had not always sided with Russia. While it refrained from criticising Moscow's handling of the crisis in Ukraine, it had abstained - rather than vetoing - the UN Security Council resolution to denounce Russia over the annexation of Crimea.
"China has not supported Russia's actions in Ukraine. That has become very clear in the UN Security Council," he said.