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Amber Wang

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’s plans for greater ties with Europe were also disrupted when the European Parliament cancelled a meeting scheduled for Tuesday to discuss the new investment deal signed by China and the EU in January. The two sides are locked in a tit-for-tat dispute sparked by the EU’s imposition of sanctions on China over its alleged human rights abuses against Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang.
China-Russia ties: ‘no plans for military alliance’ to take on US
Wang said at a joint press conference after his meeting with Lavrov that unilateral sanctions were not based on international law.
Lavrov said: “We reject zero-sum geopolitical games and reject unilateral illegitimate sanctions that our Western colleagues resort to more and more often.”
Before the meeting, Lavrov called for greater cooperation between Russia and China and for the two sides to reduce their dependence on the US dollar for trade to offset the impact of Washington’s sanctions.


Yang Jin, an expert on China-Russia relations at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said Lavrov’s idea was likely to be well received by China.
“Both sides have already realised the huge risk of overreliance on the US dollar and Western-controlled payment system,” he said, referring to the fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis and America’s recent programme of quantitative easing.
“Using local currency for trade settlement is a trend for economies worldwide,” he said. “When the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, the EU’s core members considered setting up a payment system to bypass the US-controlled SWIFT.”
However, while Russia and China have sought to reduce their dependence on the US dollar by increasing the use of the yuan and rouble for trade settlements, Cheng said they would never be able to fully dislodge the US from its top spot within the global payment network.
“China and Russia have always emphasised independence of finance, but complete independence is impossible. Building an international settlement system is a long process,” he said.
Beijing and Moscow could use the yuan and rouble for some settlements, “but it is impossible to cover all the trade between two countries”, he said.

But there were fields, like technology and energy, in which China and Russia could increase their cooperation, Cheng said.
“If the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is blocked, as an indirect effect, Russia will naturally turn to the East, and countries like China to seek energy cooperation,” he said.
Energy security is a big issue for Beijing as it pursues its goal to become carbon neutral by 2060 and the China-Russia natural gas pipeline project – set to be completed by 2025 – was mentioned in its latest five-year plan.
Despite the enthusiasm for greater cooperation between Russia and China, Cheng said he doubted the two nations could ever create a true alliance.
“It is not beneficial to China to ally with Russia from a historical point of view,” he said, referring to the failure of the China-Soviet Union alliance.
Russia’s values and political system were now aligned more with the West than with China, he said.
“In difficult times the two countries can hold together for warmth, but we should not forget that China’s rise is also a threat to Russia. If they formed an alliance, who would be the leader?”


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US-China relations

China-Russia alliance can never work, despite US rivalry, observers say

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov meet in Guilin on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

(190604) -- BEIJING, June 4, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the Chinese section of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline kicks off in Heihe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, June 29, 2015. (Xinhua/Song Fulai)

China, Russia agree to work together against ‘illegitimate’ sanctions

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Guilin on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend a news conference following their meeting in Guilin, China March 23, 2021. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

‘We’re in it together’, Antony Blinken tells Nato after flurry of China sanctions

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the NATO foreign ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Belgium on Tuesday. Photo: NATO via dpa

FILE PHOTO: European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell speaks at a news conference after an EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium February 22, 2021. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Pool/File Photo

WILMINGTON, DE - NOVEMBER 24:  Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken speaks after being introduced by President-elect Joe Biden as he introduces key foreign policy and national security nominees and appointments at the Queen Theatre on November 24, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. As President-elect Biden waits to receive official national security briefings, he is announcing the names of top members of his national security team to the public. Calls continue for President Trump to concede the election as the transition proceeds. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (left) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confer after a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Russia, China can reduce sanctions risks by moving away from US dollar, Sergey Lavrov says

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says using local and other international currencies for trade instead of the US dollar can reduce the risks of sanctions. Photo: Reuters

FILED - 01 September 2020, Berlin: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a press conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (Not Pictured) following their meeting. China's understanding of its relationship to self-ruled Taiwan, known as the "One China" policy, is a "red line that should not be crossed" by the United States, Beijing's top diplomat said on Sunday. Photo: Michael Sohn/AP pool/dpa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to Chinese state media ahead of his two-day visit. Photo: Xinhua

China wants to be carbon neutral by 2060, but can its provinces manage it?

The port of Huanghua, in Hebei, northern China, in December stepped up shipments of thermal coal for coal-fired power generation in the country’s south. Photo: Xinhua

News

China

Diplomacy


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



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.


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

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