Competition and Cooperation: Sino-Russian Interactions in Asia in the Era of Great Power Competition
Abstract
In the great power competition-era, the United States finds itself challenged by two main adversaries: Russia and China. This is especially evident in Asia, where both rival powers seek to retain and expand their traditional political, economic, and military spheres of influence while attempting to put limits on U.S. involvement. This thesis explored the dynamics of competition and cooperation between Russia and China in order to ascertain which are stronger. To achieve this, the thesis examined Sino-Russian interactions in three specific cases: Central Asia, North Korea, and Mongolia. In the case of Central Asia, competition between Russia and China was the strongest of the three cases due to the region's importance to both great powers. However, shared security concerns and the opposition to U.S. presence push Moscow and Beijing toward cooperation. Regarding North Korea, Russia largely follows China's lead, recognizing shared concerns about the stability of the DPRK regime and the greater importance of the region to Beijing. Finally, in Mongolia, Moscow and Beijing cooperate for the sake of maintaining a stable and predictable neighbor, avoiding an unnecessary security dilemma. In all three cases, Russia and China were found to prefer cooperation to competition, both to ensure their peripheries' stability and focus their efforts on the great power competition with the United States.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1173304
Entities
People
- Ivan R. Georgiev
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School