International security

Russian-Chinese Security Cooperation and Military-to-Military Relations

Since the establishment of bilateral relations between post-Soviet Russia and China,both sides have made considerable efforts to enhance strategic trust and establish an institutional infrastructure to deepen their cooperation in the military and general security fields. Both sides have similar views on the general international situation, and recently the progress of their military-to-military interactions sped up as  their relations with the US sharply deteriorated.

The latest major development in military cooperation was Chinese participation in the Russian strategic-level exercise Vostok-2018 (East-2018). Previously,only the closest partners of Russia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) had been invited to participate in such activities. Holding joint strategic-level exercises is now expected to be a regular practice and in 2019 the Russian troops are likely to take part in a similar exercise in China.

Currently, Russia and China are each other`s closest partners in the defence and security field among the major countries. The frequency of their joint military activities recalls the relationship between these formal allies. However, both sides are still denying any intention to form an alliance and are maintaining strategic autonomy on a wide range of regional and global policy issues.

The two sides have significantly influenced each other`s strategic cultures in the past, and this mutual influence is still strong. China's military policies were heavily modelled after the Soviet Union's in the 1950s and in the early period of Reform and Openness in the 1980s when the Chinese military was returning to more professional practices after the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.