Even if there exists residual distrust between China and Russia as a legacy of Mao Zedong’s split with Nikita Khrushchev, the two nations have much to gain from strategic cooperation. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, of which Russia is a founder member, is one platform for collaboration on the Asian land mass ― an economic and security linkage that is not only natural but also progressive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was his usual blunt self, ahead of his state visit to China last week, when he referred to the scope of an alliance to limit American influence. In an article he wrote for the People’s Daily, he commented that “it is not possible to set the global agenda today behind Russia’s and China’s backs, without taking their interests into account”. In a reference to “attempts to dilute the principles of international law,” it was apparent he meant suggestions floated by Western nations to intervene in Syria, as had happened in Libya. Russia and China are firm in their belief it is not any outsider’s business to force a change of government in a sovereign state, whatever the rationale.

But the Syrian issue is of the moment. It will pass. Of greater import is the strategic context of Putin’s attempt to consolidate a partnership with China as a counterweight to the United States. This matters to Asia, whose chief concern for years to come will be unimpeded economic expansion. A Russia-China concord that seeks to push back against the predominant influence of the U.S. is neither to be resisted nor feared. It is an inevitable response to contemporary events, and countries with ties to big powers will have to adjust to the nuances to defend their permanent interests. It preserves international calm if the reality forces the U.S. to temper its zeal in promoting its notions of liberal values and fair trade.

If the U.S. could announce almost as a matter of course that it will increase its naval craft deployment in Asia to 60 percent, from half, as part of its Pacific pivot, it could scarcely expect China and Russia to be quiescent. Russia has been fuming ever since NATO expanded into its sphere of influence after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, followed soon after by U.S. plans to set up a missile shield. China on its part took a dim view of U.S. military moves into ex- Soviet Central Asian republics, only a shout away from its western frontier.

U.S. interest in Myanmar, which has long been in China’s orbit, is also being watched. China now suspects the Philippines may be receiving tacit U.S. support in the dispute over an islet in the South China Sea. Such tensions will fester unless a balance of power that promotes calm evolves in the region.

( The Straits Times)

(Asia News Network)