China-Russia ties

Swedish academic Stefan Hedlund points out that China is weighing its options very carefully as to how much it should intervene to ensure a stalemate or renewed freezing of conflict in the Ukraine war. From China's point of view, while there are certain gains to Russia being further weakened, Russia's total fall would also spell trouble for China.

Chinese academic Zhang Tiankan believes that while Russia looks and acts tough like a major power, it is in fact not as powerful as it thinks, or wants others to think. It has a long way to go before having the same influence as other world powers.

Over the past century, China’s relations with the Soviet Union — and later Russia — have had its ups and downs. From early communist links and Soviet occupation of China, to today’s economic dealings, China’s leaders have navigated the tricky waters of history and geopolitics. Historical photo collector Hsu Chung-mao gives us a window into the past.

It seems that the longer the war in Ukraine drags on, the more dependent Russia will be on China. After more than three centuries of Russia-China relations, it seems that the situation is coming full circle and Russia is becoming increasingly subordinate to China.

Chinese academic Deng Xize notes that the Mongol and Russian empires were very similar in origin and nature, but the conditions that allowed their rise and spread no longer exist today, leading to their inevitable decline. The global reaction to the war in Ukraine in fact shows that such empires will no longer be tolerated.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trip to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan highlights his bid to advance his vision of the China dream. This, however, will require changes in the global balance of power that countries around the world, including Southeast Asian countries, will find hard to manage. How will China proceed from here, and will it be able to win allies along the way?

Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan analyses the outcomes of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Uzbekistan and the implications of China’s perceived stronger courting of the Central Asia region.

China seems to be pulling back while Russia wants to take a step forward, as seen from the Xi-Putin parlay at their meeting in Uzbekistan. But the delicate dance is not only at the surface level of the Ukraine war, but China’s deeper strategic goals in Central Asia, where Russia considers itself a dominant power.

China has doubled down on its alignment with Russia against the West. This has led to a proliferation of minilaterals and security partnerships aligned with the US. China's launch of its Global Security Initiative is not helping to assuage Western worries of Chinese ambitions and countries in the region are also wary. What will this mean for Southeast Asia?