ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the importance and implications of ever-closer Sino-Russian cooperation for the transatlantic community. It argues that at the current stage, the indirect implications of Sino-Russian cooperation, in particular, the challenge posed to the rules-based order, are most relevant for the West. Moscow explicitly supports China’s security policy, toward Japan and South Korea, in particular, by participating in joint exercises directed against those two states. Beijing does not reciprocate, staying away from Russia’s military brinkmanship in Europe. In third regions that are of concern to the transatlantic community, such as the Balkans and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), China and Russia tend to pursue parallel rather than coordinated policies. Direct impact on the transatlantic community has so far been limited to the rhetorical dimension. There exists asymmetry in how Moscow and Beijing can act as a “force multiplier” for each other. Russia can offer China strategic, political, and military-security support. It is not capable, however, of providing financial-economic and technological assistance in Beijing’s competition with the US. China, in turn, has the capacity to prop Moscow up in all areas, but its willingness to do so, especially in the economic realm, remains half-hearted, given its economic ties with the transatlantic community.
