The US factor in post-cold war China–Russia relations

Abstract

The end of the Cold War has made international relations more complicated rather than simpler. As realism predicts, it did not end competition for power between China, Russia, and the USA. However, realism alone is far from enough to convincingly explain China–Russia relations. China’s progressive rise did not incur balancing from Russia. Rather, the two countries have grown increasingly close, forging a mutually beneficial partnership and mitigating their history of antagonism and the differences in their political ideologies and national cultures. Why did this happen? This paper focuses on one crucial factor in Sino-Russian relations, the foreign policies of the USA, from the perspective of the three major theoretical traditions in IR: realism, liberalism, and constructivism. It identifies four ways in which the USA has pushed China and Russia closer together: NATO expansion, the development of missile defense systems, the promotion of democracy abroad, and denial of Chinese and Russian status aims.