China-Russia military cooperation in the context of Sino-Russian strategic partnership

Abstract

Over the post–Cold War era, China and Russia have been committed to creating a strategic partnership in an attempt to contain the US hegemony and bring the world a new international order. As a part of this partnership and their efforts in achieving the above goals, these two states have increasingly intensified their military cooperation over the past two decades. The rapidly enhanced military cooperation is a visible manifestation of China’s quest for military modernization to meet the challenges of a potentially military intervention launched by the USA in Taiwan and the disputed South China Sea as well as for a delicate moment of global power shift caused by the rise of China. It also shows China’s strategic intention of enhancing its “hard” power in order to elevate its status at the systemic (global) level. In so doing, China wishes to achieve two interconnected objectives. One is related to China’s strategic and security environment that, from the Chinese perspectives, has been drastically aggravated by the US containment of its rise. The other relates to China’s long cherished dream of restoring its past glory of “Fuqiang” (wealth and power) by enhancing its national power and rising in the global power hierarchy.