ABSTRACT
In the last several years, both Russia and China have launched ambitious regional projects that are promoted as a means to strengthen linkages with neighbouring states. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) joins member states in an integrated single market providing the free movement of goods, capital, services, and labour. China’s ‘one belt, one road’ (OBOR) is composed of two parallel projects, one maritime and one over land. These two ventures focus on the construction of large-scale infrastructure endeavours, financed by the newly established Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank. My purpose in this article is twofold. On the one hand, I seek to assess and compare Russian and Chinese narratives on the EEU and OBOR as well as to examine the status of their decision, initiated in May 2015, to link the two projects. On the other hand, I am also concerned to locate this development in the context of Russia and China’s extended foreign policy goals, and its implications for the Russian–Chinese relationship. I argue that these initiatives exemplify the tensions – many of them latent – that exist between Russia and China, which are largely a consequence of the growing power disparities between the two states.
