ABSTRACT
In recent years, China has become more assertive regionally and globally – increasing naval and military capability, investing vast sums in energy sources, and exerting increasing influence in the Muslim world and Africa. Its influence is also expanding in North Asia, expressed in trade with the Russian Far East, economic interdependency with Japan, and shaping the security agenda of the Korean peninsula. Between Russia and China the balance of power will lean towards the latter in coming decades, reflecting in a zero-sum equation Russia's decline as a strategic and economic superpower. Moscow is concerned about China's reluctance to consider it an Asian power, and wants higher status in the new Asian security architecture. The stakes are also economic: Russia is eyeing the Asian market with greater interest than in the past and hopes to counterbalance its tense relationship with Europe on energy matters with new supplies to Asia. However, Asian competition for Russia's energy resources is not very intense; this has made it more difficult for the Kremlin to transform its energy assets into diplomatic clout.
