About our China-Russia news
Latest China-Russia news, including breaking updates on diplomatic meetings, treaties, trade, and military exercises.
Historically, Russia and China have shared a border, and their interactions can be traced back to ancient times. However, in modern history, their relationship has experienced significant shifts. During the early years of the Soviet Union, Russia and China developed close ties, primarily due to their shared communist ideologies. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1949 after the Chinese Communist Party came to power. During the early 1950's, these relations prospered but soon soured in the late 1950s and 1960s firstly due to ideological reasons, namely Khrushchev's De-Stalinisation, and later territorial disputes. The Sino-Soviet split resulted in tensions and a significant cooling of relations. Border clashes occurred in the late 1960s, leading to a near-war situation in 1969.
In the 1980s, under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping, Russia and China normalised their relations. In 1991, following the Soviet Union's collapse, Russia inherited the Soviet seat on the United Nations Security Council, and China supported its continuation. Since then, Russia and China have pursued a policy of strategic partnership and have deepened their cooperation in various fields. The two countries have engaged in significant economic collaboration, including energy partnerships, trade agreements, and investment projects such as the Russia and China strengthened their ties through initiatives such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). These initiatives aim to foster regional connectivity and promote economic cooperation across Eurasia. The two countries have also conducted joint military exercises (notably Vostok 2018 and 2022) and signed defence agreements to enhance their security cooperation.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, relations between China and Russia intensified further. China has opposed economic sanctions placed on Russia and increased its Russian oil and gas imports by a quarter from 2022/23, whilst China's overall trade with Russia hit a record $190bn in 2022 - a 30% increase on the year before. In March 2023, a state visit by Xi Jinping to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin served as a public display of the two nation's commitment to one another.