The Russia-China Partnership: De Facto Alliance or Marriage of Convenience?

This paper will discuss the roots of the increasing partnership between Russia and China and its future prospects.

This paper will discuss the roots of the increasing partnership between Russia and China and its future prospects. This paper argues that the strengthening relations between Russia and China might be constrained in the long-run because first, their shared geography is conducive to create power contestation; second, the question of who will lead the partnership might become an issue of prestige; and third, they hold divergent views regarding the appropriate ways the global political-economic system should run.