Should Russia Be Wary Of China?

Pavel Luzin, Riddle: Should Russians Be Wary of Chinese Bearing Gifts?

In line with Moscow’s declared “turn to the East,” Russian officials have been reaching out to Beijing with the aim of founding a new political and economic alliance. Yet Russia’s elites, much like Russian society, view their Chinese partners with a certain degree of suspicion. In Russia today, opinions are divided about the current rapprochement with Beijing: is it a golden opportunity or a poisoned chalice?

Moscow’s official line affirms the close partnership between the two countries. So close, in fact, that the Kremlin even invited over 3,000 Chinese soldiers to participate to its Vostok-2018 military exercises. At the same time Igor Sechin, one of Russia’s most influential people and the head of state-owned oil giant Rosneft, confessed to the now jailed former minister Alexey Ulyukayev that he did not have high hopes for cooperation with China.

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WNU Editor: Russia has always been wary of China.