No Strings Attached: Russia, China Forge Ties Yet No Military Alliance

The two countries are not about to change their mutual relationship into a formal military alliance, analysts said.

Despite their significant ongoing cooperation, China and Russia are not planning to have any formal military alliance, said Tian Chunsheng, an analyst at the State Council’s Russian Development Research Centre.

The reinforcement of military and diplomatic ties between Beijing and Moscow has been encouraged by their common past and present-day inhibition by the West, but the fallout from the Sino-Soviet split in 1969 was a reminder to officials on both sides “not to repeat any historical tragedies by forming any alliance,” Chunsheng said.

The analyst noted that the current intensive military cooperation between China and Russia doesn’t mean they will build up, or form any official military alliance.

“Setting up a state organization, such as NATO, would violate the two countries’ fundamental principles.”

“Both Beijing and Moscow suffered a lot because of the ups and downs in their bilateral relationship during the 1960s and 1990s,” the analyst added.

Antony Wong Dong, a Macau-based military observer, said Beijing and Moscow would try to continue a “collaborative relationship” amid the containment efforts of the US and its allies.

“Beijing and Moscow remain friends because so far they have had no reason to break their ties in the face of all the actions of the Western allies,” Wong said.

During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Moscow, China and Russia signed deals on energy, infrastructure and military cooperation.