Join the Carnegie Moscow Center for a discussion on Russia-China relations.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently asserted that China and Russia should not be viewed as separate challenges for the alliance, but addressed altogether. Indeed, the security aspect of Sino-Russian relations has grown visibly more robust over 2021, despite the pandemic. The two countries have hosted large-scale military drills in Western China, naval maneuvers in the Sea of Japan, and joint patrols by strategic bombers in North East Asia. In June, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping extended the Sino-Russian Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation for five years, and declared that the relationship between Moscow and Beijing has surpassed the level of a military-political alliance.

How deep is the security partnership between China and Russia really, beyond the curated images projected by the two propaganda machines? What sources of potential tension are there between Moscow and Beijing, and is the situation in Central Asia following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan one of them? How worried should the West be about the growing Sino-Russian security ties, and what should the policy be on addressing this challenge?

Speakers:

Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow, chair, Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program, Carnegie Moscow Center

Janka Oertel, director, Asia Program, European Council on Foreign Relations.

Raffaello Pantucci, senior associate fellow, RUSI