With its invasion of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine, Russia invited condemnation and sanctions from the West and had little choice but to tighten ties with China. Stronger Sino-Russian relations prompt some analysts to compare China and Russia. “China should take such questions and comparisons seriously – making it clear through public diplomacy that the country is not like Russia,” argues Wang Yiwei, a 2001-2002 Yale University Fox Fellow who now teaches at Renmin University in China. Wang lists three ways China differs from Russia: a cultural conditioning that emphasizes history and culture rather than geographic expansion; diverse trade partners including many in the West; and a history of settling land-border disputes through negotiations. By pursuing a non-alliance policy, China will keep Russia close but not too close, as most Chinese look to partnerships with the West. China values good relations with Russia for bargain energy deals and broad initiatives like the modern-day Silk Road, and not confrontations that attract trade sanctions – YaleGlobal
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/western-sanctions-are-ties-bind-china-and-russia
