Former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby takes a deep dive into the “Chussia” partnership. His conclusions about a rising Sinostan would not please the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a concert marking the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China. AP
Since 2012, when Putin announced his “pivot to the East” and Xi Jinping ascended to the top of Beijing’s leadership, China and Russia have uneasily accommodated each other.
With these closer relations, a school of thought – which has found support in the White House – has emerged that there is a single theatre of strategic competition: liberal democracies versus autocracies. It is easy to see the appeal of this formulation, both in its simplicity and its powerful invocation of the binary ideological struggle of the Cold War.
Geoff RabyColumnistGeoff Raby was Australia’s ambassador to China, 2007-2011. His book Great Game On: the contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy will be published in November by Melbourne University Press.
