enior Chinese and Russian officials met in Moscow to discuss security affairs on Monday, which will be followed by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s scheduled visit to China on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The frequent, high-level interactions demonstrated the stability, great potential and strong momentum of China-Russia relations, which are resilient against external noises attempting to sow discord between the two countries over enhanced China-Central Asia cooperation, analysts said.
The head of Russia’s Security Council, Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, held talks with Chen Wenqing, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
In Russia, Chen will attend the 11th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues and hold the 8th meeting of the China-Russia law enforcement and security cooperation mechanism, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Cui Heng, an assistant research fellow from the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday that the security talks were very necessary for China and Russia to tackle the growing security risks they jointly face in Eurasia, including those brought about by major power rivalry since the Ukraine crisis, the shadow of nuclear conflict, the return of terrorism in Central Asia and non-traditional security threats.
To deal with these security challenges, China and Russia hope not only to make breakthroughs at a bilateral level, but also to deepen security cooperation in multilateral mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, Cui said.
The expert noted that China and Russia, two founding members of the SCO, are maintaining close bilateral exchanges to ensure smooth multilateral cooperation at the platform amid the summit in June.
Russian media reported that Prime Minister Mishustin is expected to hold talks with Chinese leaders on economy, trade and security among other issues of shared interest.
Against the backdrop of the just concluded China-Central Asia Summit, analysts emphasized Central Asia’s importance to both China and Russia, citing the example of the region’s role as a juncture in the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Russia holds a positive attitude toward the cooperation between China and Central Asian countries, and is paying growing attention to China’s positive role in promoting stability and prosperity in Central Asia, Zhao Huirong, an Eastern European studies expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Commenting on Western claims that enhancing China-Central Asia cooperation would make Russia nervous, Cui said this narrative was based on a zero-sum mentality, wrongly presuming that the size of the cake is set and more participants means a smaller share.
China is seeking to make the cake bigger through deepening cooperation with Central Asia as well as Russia so that all can benefit, and this kind of common prosperity is definitely not a threat to Russia, Cui said.
