China–Russia relations

The flags of Russia and China.jpg, development and cooperation lie at the core of the modern international system. ~ Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China (4 February 2022)] China–Russia relations, also known as Sino-Russian relations, refers to international relations between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, along with its predecessors the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Despite both being Communist countries which had close relations during the 1950s, at the end of the decade relations grew more hostile in the Sino-Soviet split which lasted for the rest of the Cold War. Diplomatic relations between China and Russia improved after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and establishment of the Russian Federation in 1991.

Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development, February 4, 2022
(Full text)


 * The Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, hereinafter referred to as the sides, state as follows: Today, the world is going through momentous changes, and humanity is entering a new era of rapid development and profound transformation. It sees the development of such processes and phenomena as multipolarity, economic globalization, the advent of information society, cultural diversity, transformation of the global governance architecture and world order; there is increasing interrelation and interdependence between the States; a trend has emerged towards redistribution of power in the world; and the international community is showing a growing demand for the leadership aiming at peaceful and gradual development. ...


 * The sides call on all States to pursue well-being for all and, with these ends, to build dialogue and mutual trust, strengthen mutual understanding, champion such universal human values as peace, development, equality, justice, democracy and freedom, respect the rights of peoples to independently determine the development paths of their countries and the sovereignty and the security and development interests of States, to protect the United Nations - driven international architecture and the international law - based world order, seek genuine multipolarity with the United Nations and its Security Council playing a central and coordinating role, promote more democratic international relations, and ensure peace, stability and sustainable development across the world.


 * The sides share the understanding that democracy is a universal human value, rather than a privilege of a limited number of States, and that its promotion and protection is a common responsibility of the entire world community.


 * The sides oppose further enlargement of NATO and call on the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon its ideologized cold war approaches, to respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries, the diversity of their civilizational, cultural and historical backgrounds, and to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards the peaceful development of other States. The sides stand against the formation of closed bloc structures and opposing camps in the Asia-Pacific region and remain highly vigilant about the negative impact of the United States' Indo-Pacific strategy on peace and stability in the region. Russia and China have made consistent efforts to build an equitable, open and inclusive security system in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) that is not directed against third countries and that promotes peace, stability and prosperity.


 * The sides welcome the Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapons States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races (January 3, 2022) and believe that all nuclear-weapons States should abandon the cold war mentality and zero-sum games, reduce the role of nuclear weapons in their national security policies, withdraw nuclear weapons deployed abroad, eliminate the unrestricted development of global anti-ballistic missile defense (ABM) system, and take effective steps to reduce the risks of nuclear wars and any armed conflicts between countries with military nuclear capabilities.

Quotes about

 * China’s Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin of Russia have signed a joint statement calling on the west to “abandon the ideologised approaches of the cold war”, as the two leaders showcased their warming relationship in Beijing at the start of the Winter Olympics. The politicians also said the bonds between the two countries had “no limits”. “[T]here are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation’,” they declared. In the joint statement released by the Kremlin, Putin and Xi called on Nato to rule out expansion in eastern Europe, denounced the formation of security blocs in the Asia Pacific region, and criticised the Aukus trilateral security pact between the US, UK and Australia.
 * Xi and Putin urge Nato to rule out expansion as Ukraine tensions rise, Andrew Roth and Vincent Ni, The Guardian, (4 Feb 2022)


 * The statement underscores only the obvious: No country, and no political party or movement has the ultimate answers to all the difficult questions of social development. Therefore, there should be no hierarchy or subordination among states on the basis of how they organize their political and social lives. This, however, does not imply that there are no universal human rights, which all the states have to honor and protect. Such universal rights do exist, but they should be defined by the international community at large, not by a small group of countries proclaiming themselves as “model” democracies.
 * China-Russia Statement: A Quest for Diversity, Andrey  Kortunov, Modern Diplomacy, 21 Feb 2022


 * China on Thursday said it would reject “any pressure or coercion” over its relationship with Russia, in response to a call from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for Beijing to use its “special relationship with Russia” to persuade Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.... Yellen’s speech at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank, came a week before the world’s finance ministers and central bank governors convene in Washington for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Group Spring Meetings. Her direct appeal to China underscores an increasing frustration that the United States and its allies have with a country that has only deepened its ties with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
 * China rejects ‘pressure or coercion’ over Russia relations, AP News, April 14, 2022


 * People in China generally believe supporting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine is in China’s best interest, according to a survey by an American think tank. And, after assessing the age, gender, education, income and media diet of the respondents, analysts with the US-China Perception Monitor, a programme under the Carter Centre, found that a higher education and a greater exposure to national state media and social media were associated with a higher level of support for actions favouring Russia.   The poll relating to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine was conducted in the Chinese language between March 28 and April 5. The think tank received 4,886 complete responses from Chinese internet users.
 * Ukraine war: most Chinese believe backing Russia is in their national interest, says US think tank, South China Morning Post,  20 April 2022
 * At first, in the 1950s, Chairman Mao and his leadership group believed that China’s progress could only come within the Soviet-led community of Communist states. But by the latter part of the decade, doubts had set in. Soviet-style development seemed all too slow for Mao. He wanted to see China excel in his own lifetime. After 1956, the Chairman believed for a while that Khrushchev’s attempts at reforming the Soviet bloc and making it more equal and diverse could satisfy China’s needs. But Soviet criticism of China’s fast-forward development plans disabused him of such notions. Amid conflicts over domestic development as well as international affairs, the Sino-Soviet alliance floundered. By the early 1960s the concept of “brother states” was gone, to be replaced with an enmity so deep that it almost led to war at the end of the decade.
 * Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History (2017)