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LettersChina and Russia ties defined in three proverbs
- By not expecting too much, speeding up economic exchanges and staying away from a military alliance, the two countries have kept relations stable
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With reference to Danil Bochkov’s “Russia-China bromance is going strong, but it’s far from perfect” (July 23), what has experienced a death by – as you say in Chinese – “a thousand cuts”, can be brought back to life only by the resuscitation of a thousand stitches.
As traditionally your country’s history is divided into dynasties and ours into reigns, little wonder a treaty between us was signed 20 years ago when our new president was just 49, and his frequent meetings with Chinese President Mr Xi Jinping since then meant there was no daylight between them on many issues. But not all.
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit dwarves are described as decent enough people if “you don’t expect too much”, and a similar approach in Sino-Russian relations has been very beneficial to both countries – no visa-free travel, no military alliance, no interference in each other’s domestic affairs.
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What expecting too much leads to is shown by the European Union and Ukraine: the former still expects in vain the latter to get rid of corruption while the latter equally hopelessly expects to be accepted as a member by the former.
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China, Russia foreign ministers meet as countries stand ‘back to back’ amid rise in US tensions
China, Russia foreign ministers meet as countries stand ‘back to back’ amid rise in US tensions
One of the proverbs about us Russians – slow at harnessing but quick at riding – may well have been coined by Europeans seeing our harnessing three horses instead of two when we were marching on Paris to defeat Napoleon in 1814. My country is so huge that travelling otherwise you may perish.
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The same applies to our economic relations with China. In the early 90s, cross-border commerce was microscopic, and someone even erected a Russian “shuttle trader” monument in Manzhouli. And then in 2001, we signed a Treaty of Good Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation.
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