Table of Contents

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
Are China and Russia allies? .................................................................................. 1
How do their foreign policies and interests compare? ............................................. 3
What are major challenges for the relationship?..................................................... 5
What are their economic ties?............................................................................... 5
What are their military ties? .................................................................................. 7

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 China and Russia: Exploring Ties Between Two
Authoritarian Powers

SOURCE: CFR
WRITTEN BY: Clara Fong and Lindsay Maizland
March 20, 2024

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Introduction
China and Russia have a long, complicated history together, marked by periods of both
cooperation and fierce strategic rivalry. The neighbors have strengthened ties over the
past decade, but some experts question the depth of their strategic partnership, arguing
that the countries’ alignment is driven more by their common rivalry with the U nited
States than by any natural affinity.

In the past, bilateral tensions have flared over issues including communist doctrine and the
countries’ extensive 2,600-mile (4184 kilometers) shared border. Since the turn of the
twenty-first century, however, the China-Russia relationship has improved substantially.
The two formally resolved their border dispute in the 2000s and now exercise greater
security cooperation through joint military drills and arms deals. Moreover, their economic
relationship has blossomed in the face of Western sanctions against Russia as Moscow
shifts trade away from Europe. China and Russia also coordinate within and across
international institutions to challenge the norms of the U.S.-led world order.

However, challenges remain. While joint security exercises have increased, the two
militaries do not exhibit interoperability. The economic relationship has deepened, but it
remains highly asymmetrical. And on the diplomatic front, China and Russia coordinate in
established and new international institutions, though they do not share the same vision of

Are China and Russia allies?

China and Russia are not formal treaty allies and are not bound to come to the other’s
defense. Nevertheless, their emerging strategic partnership has caused alarm in
Washington. During a state visit to Stockholm, Sweden in September 2023, U.S. House

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Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) called the burgeoning China-
Russia security alliance the most “large-scale” threat that Europe and the Pacific have
faced since World War II. At a meeting in February 2022, days before Russia invaded
Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin said their
partnership has “no limits” and vowed to deepen cooperation on various fronts.

Xi and Putin are believed to have a close personal relationship. Since Xi came to power, he
and Putin have met on forty-two different occasions, far more visits than the Chinese
president has had with other world leaders. Xi has even called Putin his “ best friend and
colleague,” while the Russian president has addressed his Chinese counterpart as a “ dear
friend.” Putin has also praised the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s global
infrastructure project, as an attempt to achieve a more “equitable and multipolar world
order.”

The countries have also aligned themselves in multilateral institutions to oppose U.S.
influence in the world. Similarly, they have established their own institutions, such as the
BRICS (alongside Brazil, India, and South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), to garner support from developing countries. The BRICS has been an
especially effective vehicle of global influence since its first summit in 2009, and it aims to
promote de-dollarization to challenge the global dominance of the U.S. dollar. As of 2024,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates have officially joined the BRICS group.

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How do their foreign policies and interests compare?
The Chinese and Russian political systems have some similarities: both are considered
authoritarian regimes with power concentrated in the hands of a single, long -serving
leader. China is a one-party state led by the Chinese Communist Party, while Russia is a
multiparty system dominated by Putin’s United Russia party. Both governments have
increasingly cracked down on domestic dissent and undermined the rule of law to preserve
their authority. Meanwhile, both the countries face a declining working-age population.

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They have also used subversive, nonmilitary tactics to project their influence abroad and
undermine democratic norms. For example, Russia has interfered in foreign elections,
including the 2016 U.S. presidential election, through online disinformation campaigns and
cyberattacks. Meanwhile, China’s state-owned media organizations have moved to fill
information gaps in dozens of countries, broadcasting and publishing news that is
favorable to Beijing.

China and Russia tend to back (or at least not oppose) each other at the UN Security
Council, where both are veto-wielding permanent members. Neither has vetoed a Security
Council resolution without the other’s support since 2004. Although they have
different interests in Central Asia—Russia has focused on supporting the security and
political stability of allied former Soviet republics, while China has focused on bolstering

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trade and economic development—they have avoided conflict with each other and have
collaborated to maintain regional security through the SCO.

China has greatly benefited from the current international order and seeks to reform it—
not replace it—to better suit Beijing’s interests. Since China joined the World Trade
Organization in 2001, Chinese officials have touted the country’s development as a
“peaceful rise” that aims to avoid military conflict with the United States and its allies.
China has worked to compete with the United States, build economic and diplomatic ties
globally through its Belt and Road Initiative, and promote a vision of win-win cooperation
with its partners. Moreover, China has played an increasingly active role in international
institutions, such as the United Nations.

Russia has also intensified its engagement in multilateral institutions, but it has done so
while flouting many international laws and norms in its actions abroad. Some experts have
described it as a rogue state. “Russia is much more provocative, while China is taking a

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more careful, long-term approach when it comes to global competition with the West,”
says Maria Repnikova, an associate professor in global communication at Georgia State
University, who studies comparative authoritarianism in China and Russia.

What are major challenges for the relationship?

Distrust. Many Chinese and Russian officials, business leaders, and citizens distrust each
other—a dynamic often motivated by historical grievances or overt racism. Although Xi and
Putin are friendly, previous leaders were not so close. Also, Chinese and Russian co mpanies
have expressed difficulties working with each other. Though the countries share a long
border, tourism and academic exchanges between them are limited. The COVID -19
pandemic also heightened distrust; Russia was one of the first post-Soviet countries to
adopt strict travel and border restrictions when the first outbreak of COVID -19 occurred in
Wuhan, China. Moscow also detained Chinese nationals deemed to have violated Russia’s
quarantine rules.

War in Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put China in an awkward position. Beijing
has not publicly provided military assistance to support Moscow’s war (even though the
Kremlin reportedly asked for it), knowing that doing so would trigger a backlash from the
United States and Europe. Aiding Russia’s offensive in Ukraine would also violate China’s
long-standing policy of noninterference. During a March 2023 state visit to Moscow,
Xi personally warned Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. But experts say the war
has had little impact on the countries’ bilateral relations, pointing to the fact that their
military ties and joint drills have shown no signs of decline since the invasion. Chinese
officials have also refused to condemn Putin for the war and have blamed the United
States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for provoking Russia. In February
2023, China released a twelve-point peace plan for the conflict that was quickly rejected by
Ukraine and the United States as a nonstarter.

What are their economic ties?

Although trade between the countries has increased over the past two decades—reaching
an all-time high of $240 billion in 2023—their economic relationship is lopsided. Russia
depends far more on China than vice versa, which has generated concerns in Moscow. For
example, while China has become Russia’s number-one trade partner, Russia was only
China’s sixth-largest trade partner as of 2023. Russia also relies on Chinese companies and
banks for critical investment in its energy and telecommunications infrastructure.

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In 2022, the United States, Japan, and the European Union, moved to ban imports of
Russian oil in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. But China remained a key buyer —
imports from Russia rose 49 percent to $76.4 billion that year, deepening Russia’s
reliance on trade with China. As of October 2023, China’s trade surplus with Russia was
$2.42 billion, with $8.68 billion worth of imports to Russia and $11.1 billion worth of
exports. China-Russia trade is already heavily dominated by energy, partly because China
has enormous energy needs, and Russia has an abundance of oil and natural gas, creating
what experts call complementary economies. Indeed, more than half of Russia’s exports to
China in 2020 were energy-related. And in June 2023, China’s crude imports from Russia
marked the largest volume ever imported from any country in any month. But some
experts predict that China’s increased use of electric vehicles and renewable energy will
decrease its reliance on Russian natural resources in the future.

Before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin and Xi agreed to boost annual trade by almost
50 percent in 2024, and Beijing plans to invest $1 billion to build the “Power of Siberia 2,” a
second, cross-border gas pipeline. (Today, most of Russia’s pipelines flow to Europe. Only
one goes to China.) However, the project has been consistently delayed by China despite

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Russian officials—including Putin—insisting that the pipeline is almost completed. As of
early 2024, the pipeline is still in the negotiation phase.

In an effort to reduce their dependence on Western banking systems, China and Russia
have started to move away from using U.S. dollars for trade, a process known as de-
dollarization. Russia has increasingly used euros for its foreign trade, though, with China, it
has more frequently used the renminbi or the ruble. However, China has not yet joined
Russia’s System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS) financial transfer system, which
was created as an alternative to the U.S.-led Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial
Telecommunications (SWIFT). Although it is not clear whether Russia is formally part of the
BRI, Putin has attended every Belt and Road forum since its inaugural meeting in 2017. At
the 2023 BRI summit, Putin was the guest of honor and used the platform to encourage
international investment in Russia’s Northern Sea Route, a 3,480-mile (5,600-kilometer)
shipping route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans through the Arctic.

What are their military ties?

China’s and Russia’s militaries have never fought alongside one another, but defense
cooperation has increased since 2014. The countries have started to work together to
develop missile warning systems, and they are boosting collaboration in space, including by
integrating their satellite-based navigation systems.

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Since the 1950s, most of China’s imported arms have come from the Soviet Union and
Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Historically,
Russian arms exports were a source of tension: in the 2000s, Moscow alleged that Beijing
had breached intellectual property protections and reverse-engineered Russian weapons.
During Xi’s tenure, however, China has been more willing to supply Russia with advanced
military gear. Meanwhile, Russian arms sales to China have declined due to the
advancement of Beijing’s own defense industry, as well as Moscow’s hesitation to sell
sophisticated systems to China out of fear of losing trade secrets if Chinese engineers
illegally copy the technology. Today, China produces most of its own weapons, and it has
become one of the world’s top arms exporters.

China and Russia’s joint military exercises have increased in frequency, scale, and

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complexity since their first drill in 2003. Some experts say these exercises have helped
boost the militaries’ interoperability and mutual trust. Others say the exercises are more
notable for the message they send to the United States and European countries than for
their actual operational benefits. In a high-profile signal of their strategic partnership,
China and Russia flew bombers near Japan while U.S. President Joe Biden and other Indo-
Pacific leaders were visiting Tokyo in May 2022. It was the first of several joint military
drills since the start of the war in Ukraine. China and Russia held another joint military
exercise in the Sea of Japan, often referred to as the East Sea, in July 2023, and they have
conducted at least five joint exercises in the region over the last year.

China’s export economy has also indirectly contributed to Russia’s war despite Beijing’s
claims of neutrality. Russian customs data from August 2023 showed a rise in Chinese
imports of heavy digging machinery, vehicles, and manufactured goods that could serve a
military purpose, such as helmets, radios, and heavy trucks used for logistics. In one
instance, Chinese excavators manufactured for civilian use were spotted digging Russian
trenches on the front lines in Ukraine. However, Beijing so far has refused to cross into
directly supplying Russia with ammunition or military technology. China defends Russia’s
increased imports as part of “normal economic cooperation,” but at the same time, Beijing
has issued export restrictions for certain types of commercial drones and equipment to
safeguard “national security” and prevent their use for “non-peaceful purposes.” While
both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used Chinese-made drones for reconnaissance and
attacks, such restrictions have put a disproportionate strain on Ukraine’s defense
capabilities, which heavily rely on drone parts that have supply chains through China.

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