Russian Politics

1. How and why did the Russia-China relationship strengthen after the Cold War?

As the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russian president Boris Yeltsin initially embarked on pursuing an overt pro-west alignment. But as the Russian state took shape within its first year of existence the policies eventually became slightly more balanced. Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev and President Yeltsin both visited Beijing in 1992 and this was followed by a withdrawal of Russian troops from Mongolia the same year. Similar troop reductions took place in the Russian Far East where 200,000 troops were redeployed, and in December an agreement was reached to withdraw offensive weapons and troops within 100 miles from the border (Balmaceda, p.258 ).

Furthermore, during the summit with Chinese leaders in 1992, Yeltsin announced an alteration of foreign policy to be “balanced between East and West.” One reason for Yeltsin's turn towards China seems to have been the domestic pressure exerted from nationalists and their strong electoral support — by aligning with China, Yeltsin could claim it was counterbalancing US hegemony. From December 1992 to December 1999 Boris Yeltsin and Jiang Zemin held seven summits with rhetoric pointing to a gradual improvement of bilateral relations year by year.[6] Indeed, in 1993 Jiang Zemin was the first Chinese president to visit Russia since the days of Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin. This was followed in 1994 by the adoption of a Russian-Chinese “constructive partnership,” but it was not until 1996 that things started to change markedly. In April that year, Yeltsin signed a “strategic partnership” with Zemin, and as the presidential elections in July drew closer he bolstered relations with China to weaken the lever of Communist challenger Gennady Zyuganov (Chaudet, p.78). A restructuring of ministerial positions within the Russian government also worked in favour of a more China-friendly foreign policy.

2. Describe how the Russian economy has been strengthen or weaken by its relationship to China. Has the oil and gas industry been a major player in the relationship?

Putin's Strengthening of Presidential Powers and the Siberian Pipeline Struggle:Besides seeking to engage with both the east and west, Vladimir Putin was also able to strengthen his control and presidential powers in the domains of foreign and security policy at the expense of the federal Duma (the parliament). This was particularly seen in Putin's foreign policy towards Japan and China, and especially with his decision to favor Japan in the Siberian pipeline project, something which was opposed by most Russian decision-makers at the time. This was in contradiction with the agreement signed in July 2001 specifying that the Siberian pipeline would be built from Nakhodka in Russia to the Chinese town of Daqing. The 2,400-kilometer pipeline was planned to carry up to 20 million tons of oil representing 12 percent of China's total oil consumption. In late May 2003, the deal was finally settled as the head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovskiii, reached an agreement with Chinese state-owned oil company Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC). An agreement was also inked on expansion ...