ABSTRACT
Ever since Moscow's tsars commenced their expansion into Siberia in the seventeenth century, the Russians have encountered the Chinese attempting to check their advance. Foreign Minister Qichen said at a meeting of the country's leadership that Russia might become "the heir to the tsars" in foreign policy. Presently, the Chinese are quickly making economic inroads in Mongolia and the former Soviet Central Asian republics without encountering any resistance from Moscow. The situation may change in a matter of months if the democratic order collapses in Russia and the ultra-nationalist parties gain control of Moscow's foreign policy. Russian nationalists may regard Chinese communists as partners in a resistance struggle against the West's supremacy in the international arena. The economic, social, and ideological problems present in China are too complex to be resolved smoothly, and chaos in China would threaten peace and stability in the entire Eurasian continent and destroy the current Moscow-Beijing entente cordiale.
