Study of foreign scholars In Russia: Most Russian researchers have an optimistic point of view about the development of Russia – China relationship through evaluations: Russia – China is
Trang 11 Rationale groups of countries:
Since the end of the Cold war, the main concern of countries has been toestablish a new world order, in which powerful countries play a role as “main actors”
in the international politic stage Among the powerful countries, America has anambition to monopolize the world while the other countries such as Russia, China orgroup Countries such as West Europe want to multi-polarize This conflict in thestrategic target had led to the fierce competition among powerful countries
Although the cold war has ended together with the effects of the confrontationbetween the two poplars, the establishing and developing the relationship betweenRussia and China made America worried Therefore, America considered thedominating China and Russia as an important content of their foreign policy on thepath of monopolizing the world However, this calculation of America had been theimportant force boosting China and Russia to enhance their strategic relations
Russia – China relationship after the cold war has played an important role in formingthe new world order This is the relation of two powerful countries, which affects directly the
stability in Asia in particular and the world in general, including Vietnam Therefore, “how has the Russia – China strategic relationship been formed and developed? And whether will they confirm their position – the main actors in the international politic stage?” has been the
question attracting many researchers in the world
For Vietnam, the changes in the history of Russia – China relations has ever affecteddeeply Vietnamese Revolution At present, both Russia and China are important partners ofVietnam, therefore, studying about the current Russia – China relationship has beenessential to Vietnamese researchers due to its deeply practical meaning
With the above meanings, the author has decided to choose “Russia Federation –People's Republic of China relations (1992 - 2008)” as the thesis’s topic with the aim
of giving contribution into solving problems which researchers care about
2 The history of studying the topic
The development of Russia – China relations in recent years has attracted many
researchers, strategic research organizations in the world
Study of foreign scholars
In Russia: Most Russian researchers have an optimistic point of view about the
development of Russia – China relationship through evaluations: Russia – China is a new
model relationship of Russia – China, and now, the relationship between two countries has reached the highest peak in last 40 years of development; “China - Russia relations has been the relationship between two wonderful global powerful countries, this relationship could change the world model” However, Russian researchers also pay
attention to the problem whether “the threat from China” exists or not
In China: Most researches in China on China – Russia relations have a common
evaluation about this relation According to Chinese researchers, their relationship, in
Trang 2fact, is the strategic partnership Basing on that, Chinese researchers stated that thisrelationship will more and more develop, which will cause great effects on the worldand give contribution into establishing a new world order.
In addition, Japanese researchers also pay a lot of attention to relationshipbetween Russia and China Most of the researches affirm the positive development ofChina – Russia relationship; therefore, they suppose that Russia and China has formed
a new model of partnership in the trend of globalization
In the West: In contrast with Russian, Chinese and Japanese researchers,
American and Western researchers have different viewpoints about Russia – Chinarelationship The U.S researchers stated that this was a two-floor relation: the firstfloor is Russia – China relations in ties with Western countries, and the second one isthe Russia – China relationship with the U.S and Western countries Both Russia andChina try to promote the bilateral relationship to build a “giant shadow” to America.However, according to the U.S researchers, the cooperation between Russia andChina is a competition; therefore, it is unavoidable to face conflicts This relationshipmay develop in the future but it may contain many potential limitations in depth
In general, other Western scholars have had many researches on Russia – Chinarelationship; however, their points of view do not have any common in evaluating therelationship that the world cares about Some scholar say that the Russia – Chinarelationship is a quite special alliance established from the demand of the both sides.Specifically, Russia gave precious “gifts” of military and military technology whileRussia is “sunk into the world of gold and dollars” from selling oil to China.Therefore, Russia – China alliance has the same characteristics as the Soviet – Chinaalliance founded in the 50s of the XX century On the other hand, the others say thatstate China – Russia alliance is established mainly on the basic of theacknowledgement about benefits and threats from the US They did not highlyappreciate the future of Russia – China relationship It means that the anti-Americanorientation of this alliance is difficult to be carried out
In general, American and European scholars quite doubted the relation ratherthan believed its development Even when evaluating the future of Russia – Chinarelation, most researchers felt pessimistic Therefore, many researchers and experts inmany countries have studied and wrote many works about this problem, however, theviewpoints are very different, and even there is a total conflict in evaluation opinions
In Vietnam
In the current context of the globalization, Vietnamese researchers have paid specialattention to the relations of large countries in general, and Russia – China relations in particular
Institute for European Studies has had many research thesis about Russia such
as “Russian Federation and Eastern Europe before the XXI century” (March, 1994);The summary record of science conference “Russia Federation in Asia – Pacific region
in the post-cold war” (October, 1995) and writings about Russia – China relations in
Trang 3areas of economy, politics on Magazine of Institute for European Studies, etc Allresearches confirmed that the “strategic partnership” of Russia and China has beenmade great effects on the current international environment.
Center for Chinese Studies has held many conferences on China’s developmentsuch as “People's Republic of China – 55 years of building and developing” (2004);
“China – 25 years of open-door reform” (2003) These works not only analyze thereforming and economic, politic, social achievements of China, but also analyze,evaluate Chinese foreign policies of the third and forth leader generations as well asthe relations of China with large countries including Russia
Modern Defence Knowledge Magazine – the publication of Second CentralCommission of Military Intelligence also published writings discussing about relationsamong large countries in the world, consisting of Russia – China relations
Further more, some research magazines such as International Magazine,Communist Magazine, International Journal of Political Economy, Asia Pacific EconomicReview, and Southeast Asian Studies also have works on large countries’ relations,including Russia – China relations in new era
Although Vietnamese organizations and researchers have studies about Russia– China relations after the cold war, the results have been just published on magazinewith the contents focusing on some areas and in some specific period There have notbeen any comprehensive researches on Russia – China relations from 1992 to 2008, aswell as any analyzing and evaluating the relations under the viewpoint of history.From the above requirements, we choose the topic“Russia Federation – People'sRepublic of China relations (1992 - 2008)” with the aim of contributing a viewpoint ofVietnam about this problem
3 The study object
The object of this thesis is the relations between Russia Federation and China inthe period of 1992 – 2008
4 Scope of study
Regarding to the name of the thesis: The thesis is named “Russia Federation
and People’s Republic of China relations”; however in the thesis in general and thesections in particular, the thesis used “Russia – China relations” The sections named
“Sino – Soviet relations” used “the Sino - Soviet” instead
In terms of contents, the thesis focuses on studying in the following scope:
The factors affecting Russia – China relations: The thesis focuses on analyzing
the main factors such as international factors, American factor, the trend of developingthe relations between two countries and historical factors (Soviet – China in the period
of 1949 - 1991)
The contents of Russia – China relations: The thesis studies the relations
between Russia and China on areas of politic – diplomatic relations, the economic,trade and energy cooperation, and security – military cooperation
Evaluating the effects of Russia – China relations: This relation has affected all
continents (Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America) at different levels, and affects theinternational relationship, however, the thesis just emphasizes on the influences of therelations on the two countries, on Asia and the movement of the new world order
Trang 4In terms of time, the thesis studies the relations in the period of 1992 – 2008 For
Russia, 1992 was the milestone remarking the development of Russia Federation after thecollapse of Soviet Union and 2008 was ending year of V.Putin’s term To China, the 6th
National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1992 was a new turning-point indevelopment of People’s Republic of China, especially; it remarked the adjustment in theirforeign policy (from “peaceful independence” policy to policy of “relations with largecountries”) The year of 2008 was evaluated the important time when Chinese new policygot basic achievements, building foundation to launch new adjustments in foreign policy atthe 7th National Congress of the Communist
To understand more deeply and systematically about Russia – China relations, thethesis will mention some events before 1992 and after 2008
5 Aims and objectives of the study
* Aims of the study:
After 1991, both Russia and China have an ambition to boost the relationshipbetween the two countries to the “strategic partnership” However, this ambition alsogoes together with the fiercer and fierce competition, which has made challenges to thedevelopment of the relations between them So, what are the causes of this reality?What are the effects of the Russia – China relations (1992 - 2008) on the region andthe world? Solving those problems is the final purposes of this thesis
* Objectives of the study:
- The thesis studies factors affecting the Russia – China relations (1992 - 2008)
on the basis of studying effects of the international, regional and domestic situation onChina and Russia It also studies the relationship between Soviet and China for over 40years with many ups and downs in the history (1949 - 1991) to make evaluationswhich are the foundation for studying process of Russia – China relations in the post-cold war period Basing on that, the thesis will analyze adjustments in foreign policies
of China and Russia since 1992 so far and analyze the relationship between the twocountries in fields of politics – diplomacy; economic, trade and energy cooperation;and security – military cooperation
- From that foundation, the thesis will further study the characteristics of Russia– China relations in order to give out special characteristics, analyze effects of thisrelationship on the two countries, on Asia – Pacific region and on the forming a newworld order In addition, the thesis will evaluate the movement trend of Russia – Chinarelations in the future
6 Sources:
- Original materials: The thesis takes original materials including documents onforeign policies of Russia and China; agreements, common announcements andcontents of discussions at senior levels of Russia and China since 1949 so far as thefoundation of studying and evaluating the topic In addition, the materials also includedocuments of Congress of China and the messages of Russia’s Presidents
- Other references:
+ The thesis have referenced foreign materials, mainly 3 sources, which are materials ofRussian researchers, materials of Chinese’s researchers, and works of researches worldwide to
Trang 5access from many point of views about Russia – China relations, which helps to makeappropriate comments and evaluations
+ The thesis uses researches of Vietnamese scholars as references, especially, researches
of Institute of European Studies, Institute of Chinese Studies under Vietnam Academy of SocialSciences, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and materials ofnowadays researchers on Russia – China relationship
7 The method of study:
The thesis is studied based on the viewpoint of Vietnamese Communist Party on foreignpolicy and international relationship, taking it as the methodology to carry out this topic
The historical and logical methods are the basic ones to present, analyze andexplain the problems in the thesis
The method of international studies also plays an important role in this thesis Theevents, historical changes of the relationship between two countries are always analyzedand evaluated on the basic of the specific historical contexts, and international situation
In addition, the methods of statistic, synthesizing, analyzing, comparison, collating,and the method of forecasting are also used to solve the problems in this thesis
8 The expected contributions of the study:
- On the basis of generalizing the whole history of Soviet – China relationsbefore 1991, the thesis has re-drawn the picture of the process of establishing,developing of Russia – China relations in areas of politics – diplomacy, and economy– trade, and security – military from 1992 to 2008
- Having studied the relationship between Russia and China in the internationalcontext and the situation of two countries, the thesis has shown influences of thisrelationship on the region and the world, initially gave out the evaluations on themovement of Russia – China relations in the coming time
- The thesis will be a reference material for researching, teaching theinternational relations, the history of China and Russia in modern time, as well as forVietnamese foreign affairs
9 Organisation of the study
Apart from the introduction, conclusion, references, and appendix, the thesisconsists of 3 chapters:
Chapter 1: The overview about Soviet – China relations from 1949 to 1991 and thefactors affecting Russian Federation – People's Republic of China relations (1992 - 2008)
Chapter 2: The development and main achievements of Russia Federation –People's Republic of China (1992 - 2008)
Chapter 3: Comments on Russian Federation – People's Republic of China
Trang 6Chapter 1 THE OVERVIEW ABOUT SOVIET – CHINA RELATIONS FROM 1949 TO 1991
AND THE FACTORS AFFECTING RUSSIAN FEDERATION –
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA RELATIONS (1922 - 2008)
1.1 The overview about Soviet – China relations (1949 - 1991)
1.1.1 Soviet – China alliance relations (1949 - 1959)
After the success of Chinese revolution, on October 2, 1949, Soviet formed thediplomacy with China The two countries officially formed the “strategic alliance”relationship by signing the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and mutualAssistance on January 14, 1950
During the 1950s of the XX century, the Sino-Soviet alliance relations gotmany achievements Soviet became the support for China, and vice versa, the alliancewith China helped Soviet to have a strong politic partner
1.1.2 The conflicts in Sino – Soviet relations (1959 - 1979)
* From 1959 to 1969
From 1959 to 1969, Sino – Soviet relations had splits, then split up, and fell intothe difficult period The conflict between the two countries was shown in 1955 – 1956.The policy “Great Leap Forward” of China in 1958 was the split up of China from theSoviet model
After Soviet withdrew all experts from China, and cut off most material andmilitary support for China in June 1960, the Sino – Soviet relations was more difficult.From 1961 to 1965, the Sino – Soviet conflict was more public on media Two sidesblamed, criticized each other, making a politic war between the two countries
From 1966 to 1969, the Sino – Soviet tense was more and more complicatedwith the highest peak of the arm conflict in the boundary in March 1969 After that,two countries agreed to come back to negotiate, however, the big negotiation inOctober 1969 still reached an impasse
It means that 1969 was the milestone remarking the total change of the Sino –Soviet “strategic alliance” relationship, pushing two countries to conflict poles
*From 11969 to 1979
The conflict between the biggest socialist countries at this time was the goldopportunity for the U.S to pull China as an alliance to fight against Soviet And Chinaquickly ran toward the U.S In fact, both the U.S and China wanted to take advantage
of each other to get their own targets Consequently, Sino – Soviet relations was notonly in tense situation but also the enemy relations for 1970s of the XX century
The Sino – Soviet conflict in 1970s created threats to the regional peace and
security This conflict made Asia – Pacific not peaceful as its name any longer, even it was facing storms and “tsunami”
Sino – Soviet conflict at this time enhanced the Cold War between the two poles between Soviet and America within Asia, affecting negatively the regional security
1.1.3 The process of normalizing Sino – Soviet relations (1980 - 1991)
Coming to 1980s of the XX century, the economic crisis forced Soviet to adjusttheir foreign policy toward reduction in arms race, confrontation with America and
Trang 7moving towards normalizing the relationship with China To China, the move
“America alliance for anti-Soviet” failed From that fact, China, once again mustadjusted their foreign policy Both Soviet and China came back to each other
On August 5, 1982, the fist negotiation round between two countries about therelationship normalization was taken place However, for the first years of the 80s ofthe XX century, Sino – Soviet relations just stopped at the level of “ice melting signal”– not total normalization due to existing problems
In the end of the 1980s, when China promoted the door-open reforming, thedemand of a peaceful environment was more and more necessary than ever At thistime, Soviet stepped into the reform period and continued to adjust the foreign policy
on the basic of “the new politic thought”, moving toward stopping the confrontation
and respecting the friendly cooperative relations with all countries in the world,especially normalizing the relationship with China
With both advantageous subjective and objective conditions, the Sino – Sovietconfrontation reduced quickly and the relationship between two countries came to theperiod of ice-melting The year of 1989 was the important milestone for a new period
of Sino – Soviet relations – two countries announced to normalize their relations and
stated “to close the past, and open the future”
The years of 1990 and 1991 were considered the time to complete thenormalization of Sino – Soviet relations The achievements of Sino – Soviet relations
at this time were considered as the foundation for Russia – China in new period
1.2 The Factors Affecting Russia - China Relations
1.2.1 The international situation after the cold war and the influences on Russia - China
The world’s changes have been shown through changes in economy, politicsituation, the balance of power in the world and the international relation ideology
After the cold war, the economic situation in the world was the association andglobalization which promoted the economic exchange In addition, imbalancedevelopment still created a fierce competition among countries and regions
The international politic situation in the transitional period formed a new worldorder, which enhanced the cooperation among countries to fight against Americanconspiracy of monopolizing the world It means that the subjective situation had boosted theinternational relationship to develop both in width and depth This was the subjectivecondition for forming the strategic relationship between Russia and China
In addition, the balance of power in the world after the cold war had beenchanged Being a powerful country with potential exceeding all alliances andcompetitors, America wanted to establish a mono-polarized world while other largecountries wanted to establish a multi-polarized world This certainly formed alliances
in the world To control Russia and China, America relied on Japan and pulled India,while the need to compete with America boosted Russia and China to support eachother and enhance their coordination
In the context of globalization, the ideology in the international relations amongcountries has changed Although the competition among countries is fiercer andfiercer, all countries wish to be peaceful and stable to develop Therefore, the relations
Trang 8among large countries since the post-cold war have changed in both contents andmodel Despite the existing conflicts, they always promoted the cooperationdevelopment.
When all countries are forced to enhance their cooperation to develop and powerful countries have to form allies for national benefits, Russia – China was also established as a result
1.2.2 The effects of American factor on Russia – China relations
After the cold war, America became the only superpower country, which hadcreated opportunities for them to monopolize the world To get their target of forming
a monopole world, America must keep their exceeding advantage in power andmaintain the position of controlling the world by all means Therefore, for last twodedicates, America have given the top priority to control Russia and China
* For Russia, America took advantages of the weakness of Russia after the
collapse of Soviet to enhance their control over Russia with the aim of eliminating themilitary strength and preventing the recovery of Russia This forced Russia to facethreats from many directions: the west was strength of NATO, the east was the conflictwith Japan about Curin Island, and the strength of US – Japan alliance, the south wasKavkaz and the unstable Mid-Asia
*For China, the US’s conspiracy of controlling China was always clear and
showed strongly because after the Cold War, China not only developed more and morequickly but also they still remained their socialist-oriented development
Both Russia and China were under the direct threats from America, therefore,certainly, they had a common condition to ally in order to fight against America andprotect themselves In contrast with the closer relationship between Russia and China,America enhanced their harsh measures, which threatened more Russia – Chinarelations It was the ambition of the US to control Russia and China that made therelationship between China and Russia closer, creating a fierce and interesting chess
with the decisive role to the new world order
1.2.3 The position of Russia Federation and the demand of relations with China
After the collapse of Soviet, the economic difficulties made Russian position inthe world reduced However, in the XXI century, the recovery and developmnet ofRussia Federation helped them to re-confirmed their position and role as a powerfulcountry in the world
From the stable economic and politic development, Russia is coming back withtheir position of a powerful country Especially, with the military strength, Russia isstill a competitor of America Russia’s orientation of developing a multi-polar worldwas contrast with the US orientation of monopolizing the world, which forced the U.S
to control “the emerging” of Russia Federation
To develop their economy, Russia, in deed, needed a peaceful environment as afoundation To state their position as a powerful country in the world, Russia firstly needed
to affirm their postion of a powerful one in the region Furthermore, to fight against
America, Russia needed an alliance like China Therefore, the Foreign policy “European – Asian Orientation”of Russia since 1994 had focused on building “the friendly neighbor belt”, with special attention to Asia – Pacific in which China had the most important role in
Russia’s foreign policy
Since 2008 up till now, while the U.S has enhanced every measures to control
Russia, the foreign policy “European – Asian Orientation” of Russia has been completed in terms of both theory and practice In both the foreign policies in 2000 and 2008, developing
Trang 9the relationship with China was always one of the most important contents of foreign affairs of Russia in Asia – Pacific
1.2.4 The development of China and relationship demand with Russia
Different from Russia, in the new millennium, China had passed the reform forover 20 years and got many achievements The economic strength of China kept beingenhanced Specifically, in 2001, GDP of China ranked the 6th in the world, in 2007,they ranked the 3th in the world (after America and Japan) The strength, effects andposition of China continued to be enhanced in the world, which made the U.S worried.Therefore, the U.S always tried to tighten the control over China
In that context, coming to 1990s of the XX century, facing changes of the
region and Asia – Pacific, China adjusted their foreign policy from “peace independence” policy to “powerful countries” policy with priority given to the relations with large countries and neighbors to get three targets of strength, property,
-and the international position
Among powerful countries, China gave a special priority to the relationshipwith Russia as Russia is not only a powerful country but also a neighbor Moreimportantly, Russia was the only country providing weapons and ensuring militarystrength for China when China was isolated The abundant energy source of Russiawas more and more important to Chinese development Especially, both Russia andChina were facing challenges causing by the US; therefore, the relationship withRussia would help China to create the counterbalance with America to serve theirinternal and external benefits
Therefore, since the Cold War ended, in the context of “one superpower andmany powerful countries”, America strengthened their control over Russia and China
As a consequence, Russia and China need the support of each other to affirm theirposition in the world This was the foundation for Russia – China relations, promoting
The proximity of geography and the long relation history were the important foundation for Russia – China after 1991 Further more; with the new ideology of the international relations that gave the top priority to the national benefits, both Russia and China needed a peaceful environment for developing Those factors had made encouragements promoting both of the countries closer Apart from the advantages of the international condition, Russia and China both had the same strategic benefits and the same competitor Therefore, it can be said that with objective and subjective advantages, Russia and China met each other in the strategic ideology as well as action purposes
Chapter 2 THE DEVELOPMENT AND SOME ACHIEVEMENTS OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION – PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA RELATIONS (1992 - 2008)
2.1 THE POLITICAL – DIPLOMACY RELATIONS
2.1.1 The forming and improvement of Russia – China relations (1992 - 2000)
2.1.1.1 The period of 1992 - 1995
From 1992 to 1993, the political – diplomacy relations between Russia andChina developed from the normalization before
In 1994, China and Russia decided to improve their relations to the
“constructive partners” based on the principle of not allying or fighting any the third partners”, “no expansionism and anti-suzerainty, anti-super politics, and not forming
Trang 10competitive political, military and economic alliances” In fact, two countries
confirmed their wish to promote the world toward multi-polar orientation
The achievements in politics – diplomacy of Russia – China in this period wasthat two countries established the key principles, identified the basic orientations of thebilateral and multilateral relations
2.1.1.2 The period of 1996 – 2000
The year of 1996 was the important turning point in the development of Russia– China relations Two countries signed the common announcement, committing to
boost the relations to a new peak “the strategic partnership”
The events in 1997 continued to affirm the development of two countries’
relationship To meet the demand for developing the "strategic partnership”, Russia
and China, being responsible to the public in their capacity as permanent member of
UN Security Council, signed a joint statement on promoting the forming a new polar world order on the basis of peace, equity, justice and season
In 1998, 1999, the economic and political crisis of Russia had certain effects onRussia – China relations However, the event that Russia Federation became apermanent member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in November 1998made advantageous conditions promoting Russia – China relationship Besides, theeffects from Kosovo war; from the event American Air Force bombed ChineseEmbassy in South Slavia on July 5, 1999 became the encouragements for Russia and
China to promote their “strategic partnership”
As a result, in these two years, Russia – China relations continued to gain manyachievements The important events of two countries’ relationship wereinstitutionalized; the border problem was nearly solved, most protocols signed inDecember 1999 were launched Russia and China really built a common front to fightagainst military actions of NATO in Kosovo and criticized the failure of UnitedNations as well as America’s using “breaking human rights” as a means to enhancetheir political strength
Since 2000, two countries have focused on identifying the orientations for the
relationship development oriented toward good neighbor relations on the basic of strategic cooperation In addition, in the “Anti-missile announcement”, Russia and
China expressed worry about the U.S’ plan of building missile defense system On thatbasic, two countries opposed the US’ plan of building national missile defense system.Therefore, the strength and role of Russia – China relations are started to be affirmed
in the world
The year of 1996 was a positive turning point in the development of the relations Developing from constructive partnership to strategic one opened a new page for Russia – China relations However, the strategic relations in this time were just the initial foundation
2.1.2 The development of political – diplomacy relations between Russia – China (2001 - 2008)
2.1.2.1 The period of 2001 – 2005
The new milestone in the development of Russia – China relations was the Treaty
of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between People's Republic of China
Trang 11and the Russian Federation signed July 16, 2001 This event give the signal of theestablishing a strategic relationship which could affect the future of Europe – Asia
The launching the Treaty 2001 in the period of 2001 – 2005 was greatlymeaningful to improvement and development of Russia – China relations The politic– diplomacy efforts of the two countries played an important role in ensuring thestability and security in Asia – Pacific In 2005, Russia and China signed the commonstatement announcement on “The world order in the XXI century”, which stated the
strength of this relation which was more and more enhanced in the world
By 2005, the “equity, confidence, and strategic cooperation” in the Treaty
2001 became the orientation of actions and development of Russia – China relations From 2001 to 2005, the border establishing problem was basically solved The viewpoint of Russia and China in acknowledging and solving international matters had basic common, especially in orienting a multi-pole world The effects of Russia and China on the international relationship were clear and clear
2.1.2.2 From 2006 to 2008
The “national years” in Russia and China in 2006 and 2007 stated the importantrole of two countries’ relations in improving socialism, promoting the comprehensiverelationship between Russia and China
In 2008, Russia and China continued to realize their strategic partnership on theglobal level This was not the new breath in Russia – China relations but also helped todeepen the political relationship With the confidence in each other, more exchange,and closer friendship, “Russia – China relations became a new model for relationsamong countries.”
2.1.3 The achievements in Russia – China boundary identifying
The process of identifying the west border between Russia, China with Asian countries was quite smoother, quicker and more effective than the commonborder matter
Mid-The identifying the Eastern border was more difficult than that of the Westernborder However, Russia and China still won The Eastern border Agreement basicallyestablished the border on river of Amur, Ussuri but could not establish the border ofislands as Bolshoi Ussuriskii, Tarabarov, which made two countries “continue tonegotiate”
In 1997, Russian government launched a solution of “common owning” whichwas accepted by China However, China had not totally satisfied with this result,therefore the “common owning” in “un-agreed places” contained potential problems
In other words, Russia – China border was not stable
In 2004, Russia and China signed the added agreement on the Eastern border
In this agreement, Russia accepted to give up the hold over the Tarabarov Island andabout half of the Bolshoi Ussuriskii Island while China also agreed to give up the holdover islands near Kharbarovsk of Russia On that basic, in 2006, Russia and Chinasigned the Agreement on the national border regulations between Russia Federationand People Republic of China, finishing the border identification between twocountries and giving out specific, clear rules on actions at border areas
Trang 12On July 21, 2008, Russia signed the agreement to return two above areas toChina Then, on October 14, 2008, Russia officially returned Tarabarov and a half ofBolshoi Ussuriskii Island to China Therefore, the year of 2008 was considered thetime milestone of completing Russia – China border identifying, ending the conflictfor 40 years and opening a new way for development of the two countries’ relation.
2.2 THE MILITARY – SECURITY COOPERATION
2.2.1 Russia – China military cooperation
After the collapse of Soviet, Russia Federation inherited all military strength ofSoviet, therefore Russia was still a powerful country in military At that time, thedemand of importing weapon of China was increasing; therefore, the militaryrelationship with Russia was important to China
From 1992 to 2002, Russia supplied 91% of weapons to China on average Inearly years of the XXI century, this number was 94 – 97% From 1992 to 2007, Chinawas the important weapon customers of Russia with a large volume of fighting flightsand modern submarine From 1995 – 1997, weapon exporting of Russia reached $58.4billion, in which exporting to China made up for $28 billion In 2008, two countriescontinued to carry out military technology projects on manufacturing military weapons.And now, China has owned the largest numbers of Sukhoi flights Russia – China militarycooperation helped Chinese military be modernized quickly in the late 90s
Since 2003 so far, two countries often holds common military exercises undermany levels and in different places every two years with the typical ones in 2005 and
2007 Through these exercises, Russia – China relations in areas of military andsecurity keeps being closer
The promotion of military relationship and technical transference of Russia toChina in recent years has brought economic, political benefits to China, and helpedChina modernize their army, promoting Russia – China relations More importantly, ithas the strategic meaning, which helps Russia and China counterbalance America inAsia – Pacific
2.2.2 Russia – China security cooperation
The disorder of the international environment in the transitional period to form
a new world order and the calculation of America about a mono-polar world put bothRussia and China into the condition of being threatened by the outside factors.Therefore, both Russia and China had the same worry, benefits and voice in securityand national sovereignty Consequently, security cooperation was consided as the maincontent of Russia – China relations in the post-cold war era in fields of both traditionaland non-traditional security
2.2.2.1 Russia – China copperation in area of traditional security
In recent years, Russia – China on areas of communication security alwaysmoved toward two main purpose which are the world security and removing threatsfrom America
Together with identifying the border from 1991 to 2008, Russia and Chinafocused on reducing army to the lowest level at border ares to build a peaceful,friengly border This result created a good condition for both countries to build asecutiry environment along the border, ensuring the security to develop the economy