Russia, China Gear Up for Pact to Seal ‘Strategic Partnership’

At a time when Sino-U.S. relations are going through a rocky phase, Russia and China are preparing to boost their “strategic partnership” by signing a treaty of friendship and cooperation.

After a four-day visit during which he met with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and other high-ranking officials, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan flew home Tuesday carrying the draft accord in his briefcase. Barring unforeseen events, Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin are to sign the treaty at a Moscow summit in July.

The treaty will be the first full-fledged pact between Beijing and Moscow since a 1950 accord between the People’s Republic and the Soviet Union was allowed to lapse in 1979 at China’s request.

Both countries are being careful to stress that their aim is not to re-create the military alliance embraced by Mao Tse-tung and Josef Stalin at the height of the Cold War. They also insist that the treaty is not directed against any country.

Yet officials on both sides acknowledge that they see the relationship as a counterweight to the United States’ status as the world’s only superpower.

“We are talking about two great countries interacting, and that interaction can influence the rest of the world,” said Vladimir S. Myasnikov, a senior analyst and head of the Russian-Chinese section of Russia’s Far East Institute.

Stalin treated Mao as a junior partner in the 1950s. But China’s ascendant economy and military strength today mean that Moscow and Beijing are looking at each other much more as equals.

“We find a common language with our Chinese colleagues on practically all major international issues,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov.

Russia strongly supports China’s view that Taiwan must never be allowed to declare independence. China backs up Russia in its criticism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastward expansion. Both countries condemn U.S. behavior on a host of issues, ranging from enforcement of the “no-fly” zones in Iraq to President Bush’s proposal to scrap the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty and build a new national missile defense.

“In international relations, you should talk about a polycentric world, where there are a lot of focal points of power and influence,” Myasnikov said. “Since both Russia and China subscribe to that vision, it is easy for us to understand each other.”

One big irritant that has largely disappeared is the Sino-Russian border dispute.

After a decade of work by geographers poring over documents dating back to the 17th century, and then demarcating their common frontier, Russia and China are close to solving the argument that brought them to the brink of war in 1969.

The new treaty is expected to end the dispute once and for all, Myasnikov said. It should also include sections on political and economic ties, and measures to regulate cultural and people-to-people contacts.

Both countries also have become active in a new multilateral association in Asia known as the Shanghai Five, which is due to meet later this month, with both Putin and Jiang attending.

Besides Russia and China, the group consists of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Myasnikov said there are suggestions that Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia could join soon.

Besides working to build confidence along their borders, the members also aim to spur economic development in Central Asia and to act as a bulwark against the threats of instability, terrorism, drug trafficking and crime, Myasnikov said.

Analyst Liliya F. Shevtsova of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank viewed Moscow’s recent moves toward Beijing--at least in part--as a message to the Bush administration.

“The Kremlin is sending Washington a warning that if there is no change for the better in relations between Moscow and Washington--now at their coolest in years--Russia is quite ready to strike a closer alliance with Beijing,” she said.