Russia and China, fans of national sovereignty and obstacles for US influence, pivot to each other during times of troubles of their own making, whether the 2014 annexation of Crimea or the brutal crackdown of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. “Today, closer relations also help anchor Russia in the world’s most dynamic economic theater, East Asia,” explains Thomas Graham, a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and former US National Security Council senior director on Russia. “The great benefits do not come, however, without equally great risks, geopolitical, economic and psychological. China may be helping Russia contain the United States in Central Asia, for example, but it is also slowly eroding Russia’s own position there.” China has an expansive foreign policy agenda, including its One Belt, One Road initiative that plans to invest in infrastructure and development stretching across the Asian continent, including in the Russian sphere of influence. To avoid marginalization, Graham urges, Russia should work on balancing relations and avoid over-reliance on China. The best option may be repairing its frayed ties with the West. – YaleGlobal
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/russia-needs-options-deal-china?utm_source=YaleGlobal+Newsletter&utm_campaign=2799c94883-Newsletter9_14_2010&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2c91bd5e92-2799c94883-207760089
