Strategic partnership of China and Russia in the context of realization of their national interests

Chzhou Syaoyui PhD in History Postgraduate student, Department of Theory and History of International Relations, RUDN University 6 Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russia xiaoyuz821@gmail.com

Introduction

The relevance of the research topic is due to the development of bilateral cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China in the context of the global "transit of power" and the "turn to the East" of the Russian Federation. The "turn to the East", associated with the reorientation of Russian oil and gas supply routes, has evolved and embodied political and economic cooperation with a key player in the Asian region, represented by China. In turn, the "transit of power", the struggle for which is taking place between China and the United States, is only gaining momentum.

The object of the study is the relations between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation.

The subject of the study is the strategic partnership between China and Russia in the context of the realization of their national interests.

The theoretical and methodological basis of the research includes the paradigm of defensive neorealism, which considers international relations anarchic due to the presence of great powers. Moreover, in accordance with this paradigm, the system of international relations can be multipolar.  The author has widely used the following methods: content analysis, historicism, comparative, logical and analytical.

National interests of the Russian Federation

The national interests of the Russian Federation, based on the foreign policy situation, are very variable, but they are invariably contained in the concept of foreign policy of the Russian Federation and Decree of the President of Russia dated 07/02/2021 No. 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation". It is necessary to analyze the above-mentioned normative legal acts (NPA):

The concept of the Foreign policy of the Russian Federation dated 03/31/2023. Based on the content analysis of the previously cited document, it is possible to identify key lexical and semantic units:

1. The State;

2. Russian;

3. International;

4. The Federation;

5. Russia;

6. Development;

7. Security;

8. Attitude;

9. Cooperation;

10. the sphere;

16. the right;

18. Peace (absence of war);

22. Economic;

28. Protection;

38. counteraction;

44. The UN.

Based on the previously conducted content analysis of the concept of foreign policy of the Russian Federation from 2023, it can be concluded that the Russian Federation intends to develop relations with third countries in a peaceful manner, based on the principles of the primacy of international law, the UN Charter, countering common threats, ensuring security and economic expediency.

It is important to note that the previously mentioned NPA also focuses on the regional component of the foreign policy interests of the Russian Federation, where special attention is paid to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India: "Russia aims to further strengthen the relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation with the People's Republic of China and gives priority to the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in all spheres, mutual assistance and strengthening coordination in the international arena in the interests of ensuring security, stability, and sustainable development at the global and regional levels both in Eurasia and in other parts of the world."

Decree of the President of Russia dated 07/02/2021 No. 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation". This NPA has 5 chapters in its structural basis: "General provisions", "Russia in the modern world: trends and opportunities", "National interests of the Russian Federation and strategic national priorities", "Ensuring national security", "Organizational foundations and mechanisms for the implementation of this strategy". In this work, close attention will be paid to the third chapter of the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, which contains the domestic political interests of the Russian Federation.

Based on the content analysis of this NPA, the following most frequently used lexical units can be distinguished:

1. Development;

2. Russian;

3. Protection;

4. Security;

5. strengthening;

6. The Federation;

7. Peace (absence of war);

8. National;

9. The people;

10. Russia.

As you can see, the main focus in this NPA is on ensuring the security of the Russian Federation, protecting its sovereignty and supporting the development of human capital. In the context of the analysis of this decree of the President of the Russian Federation, it is worth highlighting paragraph No. 8 of paragraph No. 25: "maintaining strategic stability, strengthening peace and security, and the legal foundations of international relations" and paragraph No. 9 of paragraph No. 26: "strategic stability and mutually beneficial international cooperation."

Summing up all the above, it can be concluded that the domestic political interests of the Russian Federation, which consist in ensuring Russia's security, preserving and developing human capital, and protecting the population of the Russian Federation from the "soft power" of third countries, are directly related to the national interests of the Russian Federation in the international arena. The Russian Federation strives to build a just world order, eliminate the hegemony of the states of the collective West through cooperation with countries that can be classified as "collective non-West", among which special attention is paid to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India. It is important to note that the People's Republic of China is considered as a partner in the transformation of the current world order, which is confirmed by the lexical and semantic construction used in the concept of Russian foreign policy: "[strengthening cooperation] with friendly sovereign global centers of power and development located on the Eurasian continent and committed to approaches that fundamentally coincide with Russian approaches to the future world order ..."

National interests of the People's Republic of China

As for the People's Republic of China, its national interests were documented only in 1987 and have been repeatedly transformed since that moment. As one of the leading Sinologists of the Russian Federation, Evgeny Nikolaevich Grachikov, indicates, the founder of Chinese studies of the problem of national interests of the People's Republic of China is an employee of the Academy of Military Sciences of the People's Republic of China Hong Bin: "He considers the interests of the country from the point of view of meeting the needs of economic development, political stability, defense and security, unity and increasing international prestige" ^[1]. Chinese experts identify two main national interests, on the basis of which all the others occur: survival and development.

It is important to understand that, since the late 1970s, the priority of the national interests of the People's Republic of China has been given to the economic component, according to Yan Xuetong, one of the leading international experts of the People's Republic of China. Prior to the reform of the Chinese economic system, priority was given to "the protection of independence, freedom, territorial integrity and sovereignty ... the fight against imperialist aggression" ^[2].

As you can see, with the advent of market reforms in the People's Republic of China, the interpretation of the national interests of the state has also changed, from now on the main focus was on the economic development of the state, and not on the world revolution. There were objective reasons for such a change in the vector of foreign policy thought, among which one can single out the poverty of the population, low life expectancy, low level of education and weak economic development. Let's look at each of the reasons separately.

1. Poverty of the Chinese population. The twentieth century had a significant impact on the development of the Chinese state, presenting it with serious challenges, which include the civil war, the occupation by Japan, and the policy of the PRC leadership in the post-war period. All of the previously listed aspects have had a significant impact on China's development: In the post-war years, about 800 million people living below the poverty line lived in China ^[3].

2.                 Life expectancy in the PRC in 1960 was estimated at 33 years for the previously stated reasons, which can be compared with the indicators of such states as Afghanistan, Bhutan and Cameroon ^[4].

3.                 The level of education in the post-war PRC. To assess the level of basic education, an assessment of the literacy rate of the population (% of the total number of residents of the state who are able to read) is used. In China, before the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, the literacy rate among the population remained at a fairly low level: in 1974, the percentage of literate population in China was only 65.51%, at the same time in the USSR – 97.99%, in the USA – 99.4%, and in India – 40.76% ^[5].

4.                 The gross domestic product of the People's Republic of China. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was at an all-time low (in 1960, the GDP of the People's Republic of China was about 59.7 billion US dollars, which is comparable to the indicators of such states as Italy or Japan) ^[6].

 As can be seen from the previously cited data, before the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's reforms, the People's Republic of China was significantly lagging behind the world hegemons of the Cold War period in the face of the United States and the USSR in key development indicators. Of course, based on such a deplorable position of the PRC on the world stage, the national interests of the state were shifted towards economic development, rather than the world proletarian revolution.

It is important to understand that in parallel with the growth of China's economic influence, which took place in the context of the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's previously outlined reforms, China's influence on the world stage also grew: as E.N. Grachikov points out: "If earlier the task was to attract capital, then later its investment abroad." The PRC, combining the features of capitalism and socialism in its economic and political basis of the state, has increased the growth rate of economic growth targets: The GDP of the People's Republic of China in the period 1978-1991 increased by more than 2.5 times, and did not acquire negative indicators in the previously designated period ^[7].   

At the present stage, the national interests of the People's Republic of China are based not on attracting foreign capital to their own economy, but on expanding their own influence not only in neighboring countries, but also around the world. To implement relevant national interests, an extensive list of tools is used to expand one's own influence, among which one can single out the "instrument of trade coercion", which consists in the dominant position of the People's Republic of China in the international economic arena; foreign direct investment (FDI) of the People's Republic of China, "soft power", etc.

Summing up all the above, it can be concluded that the national interests of the People's Republic of China, since the creation of the latter, have repeatedly transformed and gone through an evolutionary path from the "world proletarian revolution and the protection of territorial integrity" to attracting foreign capital, and subsequently to increasing the international influence of the PRC.

The strategic partnership between the PRC and the Russian Federation in the context of the "transit of power" and the "turn to the East"

In the context of the strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China at the present stage, it is worth highlighting two key processes that contributed to the development of relations between the two states: The "turn to the East" of the Russian Federation and the "transit of power".

Turn to the East.  A turn to the East of the Russian Federation is considered to be the reorientation of its oil and gas industry, previously oriented towards the European Union, towards Asian states, primarily the PRC. Formally, the process of reorientation of the hydrocarbon routes of the Russian Federation began in 2014 after the visit of President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to the People's Republic of China. During this visit, agreements in principle were signed to strengthen cooperation in the field of oil and gas supplies, electricity supplies and cooperation in the field of peaceful nuclear energy ^[8]. In the same year, the construction of the main gas pipeline from Yakutia to China was accelerated.

It is important to understand that the "turn to the East", which initially consisted in reorienting the supply routes of Russian hydrocarbons from the EU to China, also affected other areas of bilateral cooperation between China and the Russian Federation, among which trade, technological cooperation and foreign policy "solidarity" can be distinguished.

Since 2014, the Russian Federation has been under unprecedented sanctions pressure, expressed in attempts to limit the economic potential of the Russian Federation. The situation in Ukraine can rightfully be considered the reason for such activities of the states of the collective West. The consequences of the sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation from the Western states can be considered the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the "G8" ^[9], the reduction of trade between the Russian Federation and the EU. It is important to note that all the previously mentioned restrictions aimed at undermining the Russian economy could not solve the political situation in Ukraine.

The key "forced" stage of the turn to the East of the Russian Federation can be considered 2022, starting from which the states of the collective West multiplied the sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, de jure cutting it off from the global financial system. Against the background of such aggressive actions by the states of the collective West, cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China has increased significantly in many areas, starting with foreign policy cooperation through strengthening international organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS and ending with economic cooperation: according to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Chernyshenko, the total trade turnover between China and the Russian Federation in 2023 reached record levels of 201 billion US dollars ^[10].

Transit of power. The trade war between the United States and China, which began at the end of the last decade and was expressed in protectionism on the part of the United States of America in relation to its own goods, continues to grow. The competition between the two poles of modern bipolarity, as during the Cold War, extends to all aspects of the development of states: economy, trade, R&D (Research and development), the armed forces and much more.

As previously indicated, with the beginning of the implementation of Deng Xiaoping's policy of reform and openness, the PRC was able to move to rapid growth, equaling in terms of GDP with the successor of the USSR in the person of the Russian Federation by 1992 (the GDP of the Russian Federation in 1992 was about 460 billion US dollars, the GDP of the PRC in the same time period was 493 billion dollars USA) ^[11]. In the following decades, the Chinese economy only grew, posing a threat to the United States. A similar process of confrontation between the United States and the People's Republic of China for world domination was called the "transit of power" (English power transition), this process is based on the eponymous "theory of transit of power" (English power transition theory), which considers the confrontation between the People's Republic of China and the United States as a struggle for world domination by the People's Republic of China and the struggle for the preservation of the world hegemony on the part of the United States ^[12].

After the end of the Cold War, the United States of America gained the palm of leadership in the international arena: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has disintegrated into many sovereign republics that are unable to resist the United States. After the liquidation of the USSR, the United States was able to monopolize international relations by building a system of supremacy of the states of the collective West with the complete absence of a "counterweight".

Vivid examples of such a confrontation and attempts by the former hegemon to maintain its own dominant position can be considered the aspirations of the United States to limit the potential of China in the field of high technology: sanctions against the Chinese IT giant Huawei during the presidential term of D. Trump, which led to a slowdown in Huawei's development of its own mobile processors based on ARM architecture with a similar global IT giants technological process (7 nm). For comparison, the microprocessor from the American company Apple under the model number A13 ^[13], released in the same year as the Chinese Kirin 810/820 ^[14], also had a 7 nm process technology (less is better). Moreover, at the present stage, the United States is trying to limit China's access to high technologies: at the end of 2023, restrictions on the supply of flagship video card models from the American company NVIDIA RTX 4090 models came into force. The reason for this restriction was the unexpectedly phenomenal power of the video accelerator in the training of artificial intelligence (AI), in the development of which the United States is ahead of the main players for many years ^[15]. In order to prevent loss of profit, NVIDIA has created RTX 4090D video cards designed exclusively for the Chinese market, the distinctive feature of which is reduced performance when working with AI ^[16].

Of course, the "transit of power" cannot be based solely on economic dominance, significant attention is also paid to those aspects of US domination that cannot be questioned; "soft power", R&D, industry, infrastructure. 

Thus, it can be concluded that the strategic partnership between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China at the present stage takes place in the context of the "turn to the East" of the Russian Federation and the "transit of power" with the participation of the PRC. The Russian Federation is seeking to reorient its own energy industry, economy and foreign policy towards the states of the East, namely India and China. Russia, finding itself under unprecedented sanctions, economic, political and ideological pressure from the states of the collective West, seeks mutually beneficial cooperation with the PRC based on the principles of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence. In turn, the People's Republic of China, which has gained increasing influence in the international arena, is faced with the aggressive policy of the states of the collective West aimed at "containing" the PRC. Due to mutual interests (the restructuring of the current world order), cooperation between the PRC and the Russian Federation fully meets their national interests.

Conclusion

Summarizing all of the above, we can conclude that:

The national interests of the Russian Federation, outlined in the concept of foreign policy of the Russian Federation and Decree of the President of Russia dated 07/02/2021 No. 400 "On the National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation", mainly consist in saving the population of the Russian Federation, ensuring state security, protecting the people of Russia from the influence of "soft power" of third countries, which is directly related to the interests of the Russian Federation in the in the international arena, where our country strives to build a just world order.

The national interests of the People's Republic of China are based on expanding its own influence in the international arena, for which a whole list of tools is used, among which "trade coercion", FDI and "soft power" can be distinguished.

In the context of the "transit of power" with the participation of the PRC and the "turn to the East" of the Russian Federation, the strategic partnership between the two states can be considered mutually beneficial, meeting their national interests.