Russia and China in the age of grand Eurasian projects: Prospects for integration between the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union

摘要

Following the recent deterioration of relations between Russia and the West over crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, the relationship between Moscow and Beijing is growing stronger. In 2014, the two nations signed an unprecedented gas deal worth US$400?billion. In May 2015, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agreed to coordinate the Moscow-led EEU with China’s Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB). Following these developments, authors and journalists heralded a new era in Sino-Russian relations in which the two nations would consolidate their forces to counter a US-led unipolar world. However, the nature of the relationship between China and Russia, the prospects for closer cooperation between the two nations, and the feasibility of integrating the two grand Eurasian projects are topics of fierce debate. This article maintains that while a consensus between Moscow and Beijing with regard to post-Cold War US unilateralism and their convergent interests have pushed China and Russia to cooperate on a range of global and regional issues, relations between the two Eurasian neighbours are complex and multi-faceted and are far from forming an anti-US bloc. Furthermore, the abstract nature of China’s Silk Road initiative and a number of significant obstacles make the feasibility of integration between the two projects a complicated task. Issues explored by this article include the development of mechanisms and agreement on a format for cooperation between the nations involved; the solution of practical issues such as rail gauges and corruption in the region; the prospects for an “equal partnership” in Sino-Russian relations and Moscow’s predicament with regards to its position as “junior partner” in Eurasia; and last but not least, the ever-growing threat of Islamic fundamentalism and regional security.