The strong relationship between Beijing and Moscow can cause significant headaches for the United States, but the partnership is not without its limits.
Russia and China share grievances and wariness about what they believe to be excessive Western — and particularly U.S. — influence in world affairs. Credit: The Kremlin Presidential Press and Information Office, Creative Commons
On March 22, the United States, the European Union, Britain, and Canada jointly imposed sanctions on Chinese officials involved in intensifying human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Shortly thereafter, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov urged Washington to “halt unilateral bullying, stop meddling in other countries’ domestic affairs, and stop forming small circles to seek bloc confrontation.”
This statement was but the most recent example of the Sino-Russian relationship’s strong momentum. In September 2018, China participated in Russia’s annual Vostok military exercise for the first time. In December 2019, the two countries opened a pipeline that is scheduled to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China annually by 2024. And, last month, they agreed to build a new lunar station.
Observers have used a wide array of phrases to characterize relations between Beijing and Moscow, among them “Faustian
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