Dr. Vasile NAZARE*

Abstract. After the dissolution of USSR in 1991, the relations between The Russian Federation and The People’s Republic of China have headed towards a convergence of political positions and actions. By putting the past aside – the ideological differences between their communist doctrines from 1957-1980, the frontier problems generated by treaties dating 1689 (Nertchinsk), 1858 (Aigun) and 1860 (Beijing) – the two countries were able to forge a strategic partnership which includes economy, commerce, energy, finance, science, military technique, culture and so on.

The growing friendship between China and Russia has been highly motivated by the Ukrainian crisis and the sanctions imposed by US and EU, aspects which lead to the ”Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship” from 2001, a pact completed by the ”Bilateral Declaration Regarding the World Order”.

Of course, there were other factors which have influenced the development of this relation: vicinity – the two have a common border of 4,300 km; similar geopolitical, economic and military goals in Central Asia; their complementary economies (Russia exports oil and gas while China is the biggest energy consumer in the world); China, with a GDP of 20,890,710 billion dollars in 2016 is a very attractive market; both states are part of UN, SCO, BRICS; they share the same thinking regarding terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, drugs, guns and people traffic, Iran’s nuclear program, South Korea ballistic missiles, conflicts from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and last, but not least, the desire of a multipolar world order.

China and Russia have launched their own projects: EEU (Eurasian Economic Union, a Russian initiative) and Silk Road Economic Belt (a Chinese initiative from 2013), a massive investment of about 48 billion dollars, which the two presidents, Putin and Xi Jinping, have decided to integrate into a bilateral or multilateral organizational frame.

* Conferenţiar universitar dr., Asociaţia de Geopolitică „Ion Conea”