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Cary Huang
SCMP Columnist
What the Mainland Media Say
by Cary Huang
What the Mainland Media Say
by Cary Huang

China, Russia's warmer ties a 'marriage of convenience'

Both giant nations realise they need to set aside their differences to counter the global dominance of the United States

The presence of President Xi Jinping and People's Liberation Army troops at Russia's Victory Day parade in Moscow underscored a new era of warming ties between the two nations.

While the two giant neighbours shared close relations through the 20th century, China's high-profile participation at this month's event was as revealing as the notable absence of many invited leaders from around the world.

Many Western heads of state stayed away in protest over Russia's support for separatist fighters in Ukraine. The only other foreign countries to send troops to the parade were India, Mongolia, Serbia and six former Soviet states.

China's state media, however, heralded the attendance of Xi and the PLA as a significant step forward in the strategic partnership of the two big powers.

The said Russia would celebrate the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany alone, adding that changes in global affairs had pushed Beijing and Moscow closer together.

"Xi's presence and the unprecedented participation of Chinese soldiers in the parade delivered a clear message," said Xinhua. "China and Russia are seeing eye to eye on upholding the post-war international order and safeguarding world peace."

Xi himself lauded the mutual support of China and Russia during the second world war, which cost both nations more casualties than any others. "Both nations shared injuries and woes and forged an unbreakable war friendship in blood," Xi said.

The scenes of Xi taking pride of place next to his host Russian President Vladimir Putin at the event stirred up memories of the past when Mao Zedong first met his communist big brother Joseph Stalin in Moscow for his 70th birthday.

But Xi's treatment was in stark contrast to that in 1949, when Mao felt snubbed by the Russian leader. And the rivalry between Mao and Stalin's successors over who would lead global communism led to the acrimonious breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance and the rapprochement with the US following President Richard Nixon's historic visit to Beijing in 1972. The new détente helped defeat the Soviet Union in the cold war.

The line-up of leaders viewing the parade alongside Xi and Putin was a walking representation of an emerging order against the US-led Western alliance - with Xi and Putin sandwiched between Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Raul Castro of Cuba, and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

Once again, their increasingly upgraded partnership has prompted fears of a possible Sino-Russian axis that share much common ground on such testy international issues as Syria, Ukraine, Iran and North Korea.

The cold shoulder given by Western leaders to the historic celebrations also underscored the tensions between Russia and the West, led by the US, over the Ukraine crisis. For Beijing, forging a closer partnership with Russia is a diplomatic gesture in response to growing military ties between the US and Japan, plus American support of China's regional rivals in their territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.

The upgraded ties have involved a series of joint naval exercises and a revival of arms purchases apparently designed to complicate US-led efforts to counter both nations' military expansions.

Some observers described closer Sino-Russian political and military ties as a "marriage of convenience", but such a "soft", or "quasi-alliance" as they are called in diplomatic circles, would help shore up Beijing and Moscow's position in their rivalry with the US-led West.

The often overlooked hard truth is the theorem of realpolitik in such partnerships of convenience. As either China or Russia is the weaker side in the quest for global influence - politically, economically, militarily and morally - both need an alliance with a powerful friend.

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China and Russia's warmer ties a 'marriage of convenience'
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