9
Held at HKUST Business School Central in Central, Hong
Kong, the forum started with remarks by
David Zweig
,
Professor in the HKUST Division of Social Science, Director of
HKUST’s Center on China’s Transnational Relations, and HKUST
IEMS Faculty Associate, who emphasized the timeliness of the
topic as China continues to rise as a world power, Russia’s
President Vladimir Putin makes efforts to look eastward
to expand the country’s sphere of influence given recent
tensions with the West, and as American and EU policymakers
debate how to respond to Russian aggression even as Europe
struggles to manage economic crises and recovery.
Shaolei Feng
, Dean of the School of Advanced International
and Area Studies at East China Normal University, offered his
insights into the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Western sanctions have
brought many difficulties to Russia, but do not seem to have
led to a resolution to the core issue of Russian aggression.
Prof. Feng pointed out that China has sought to maintain
constructive relationships with Russia and the West and has
taken the position that, while Ukraine has a right to territorial
sovereignty, its history involving Crimea is “complicated”.
On the topic of the scope and limits of the Sino-Russia
relationship,
Jeremy Paltiel
, Professor in the Department of
Political Science at Carleton University, offered an explanation
for why the BRICS countries seem to support Russia while
the G7 tend to support Ukraine with respect to the Crimean
conflict, the primary reason being that BRICS countries have
initiated a soft alliance acting as a counter-balance to the G7.
This understanding informs Sino-Russian relations as China,
by and large, attempts to take a neutral stance on conflicts
between Russia and its former Soviet Union-era territories.
Providing a Russian perspective to the discussion,
Elaine
Sushkova
, Research Lead at the Asian Studies Center at the
Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO’s Institute for
Emerging Market Studies, expressed her view that Western
sanctions against Russia after its annexation of Ukraine
accelerated the development of economic ties between China
and Russia as seen in the more than 40 business agreements
across a variety of sectors signed after the sanctions came
into effect. Dr. Sushkova also felt that, while Russia needs
China as an economic and political ally, China does not need
Russia nearly as much. On this note, Dr. Sushkova pointed
out the trade balance between the two countries is trending
in such a way that China’s need for Russia is largely stagnant
while Russia’s reliance on Chinese imports, investment, and
other business related activities is increasing at a rapid pace.
Russia’s increasing business activities with China are not
without obstacles, however. As Dr. Shushkova detailed, the
biggest challenge to Russia further strengthening its economic
ties with China is that, despite China’s close proximity, after
the end of Soviet Union, Russian businesses tended to seek
partnerships with Western companies, resulting in a dearth
of experience working with China and a wide cultural gap
between Russian and Chinese businesses.
Also speaking was
Baohui Zhang
, Director of the Centre
for Asian Pacific Studies at Lingnan University, on whether
Beijing and Moscow shared the same strategic aims in light of
recent geopolitical shifts. China and Russia currently have a
number of overlapping, long-term strategic goals. While many
scholars believe a large degree of mistrust exists between the
two nations, a lack of trust which may eventually corrode
their ties, Dr. Zhang instead thinks that the countries will
continue to have close ties, as many public opinion surveys
indicate a high degree of solidarity between the citizens of
each country. Dr. Paltiel agreed with Dr. Zhang, adding that
as Russian economic fortunes fade and as Russian leadership
moves further and further away from the West, Russia will see
China as an increasingly indispensable economic and strategic
partner.
The half-day forum was co-hosted by HKUST’s Center for
Transnational Relations, HKUST IEMS, the Moscow School
of Management SKOLKOVO’s Institute for Emerging Market
Studies, and the Center for Asia and Pacific Studies at Lingnan
University.
Can the Bear and the Dragon be bosom buddies?
Forum on the Current and Future State of Sino-Russian Relations (2015.04.20)
Video recordings available at
