Buscador avanzado

An airlifter of the Russian Aerospace Forces prepares to fly to Serbia carrying equipment and professionals during the COVID-19 crisis. Photo by Russian Defence Ministry\TASS via Getty Images.

Both Russia and China have mounted combined charm offensives and disinformation campaigns on the back of the pandemic. Shipments of ‘aid’ – reportedly of questionable utility and quality - have gone hand in hand with a concerted effort to deflect any blame from China for the early spread, and an ongoing drive by Russia to undermine states’ confidence and have sanctions lifted.

These concurrent operations have very different objectives, as Russia seeks to subvert international order while China is continuing its bid to demonstrate global leadership - but in both cases, they are seeking long-term gains by exploiting the inattention and distraction of their targets.…  Seguir leyendo »

El presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin, y el presidente chino, Xi Jinping, han defendido un modelo de capitalismo autoritario (llámese "desarrollo con rostro de dictador"). Pero lo que ninguno de los líderes parece haber anticipado es que los sectores comerciales de Rusia y China se están convirtiendo en fuerzas políticas por derecho propio, ejerciendo cada vez más presión sobre la formulación de políticas públicas.

En las últimas dos décadas, las corporaciones multinacionales rusas y chinas, muchas de ellas con abundante efectivo, se han convertido en poderosas herramientas de política exterior para sus respectivos regímenes. Estas, una vez fueron vistas como fuerzas modernizadoras que ayudarían a abrir los negocios y la sociedad por igual.…  Seguir leyendo »

A month ago, Venezuelan National Assembly President Juan Guaidó refused to recognize the legitimacy of President Nicolás Maduro’s fraudulent May 2018 reelection. Guaidó declared himself interim president, calling for new elections — and quickly garnered the support of the United States, Canada, most of the European Union and a dozen Latin American nations.

Absent from that list are two countries with major financial interests in Venezuela — China and Russia. It has been a tale of two creditors, each with a concentrated financial exposure to Venezuela yet distinct foreign policy aims. Our research, reflected in two recently published Wilson Center reports, examines these differences in China-Venezuelan and Russian-Venezuelan economic relations.…  Seguir leyendo »

Tema

Se ha fortalecido el vínculo estratégico entre Rusia y China en el orden internacional post-unipolar aunque hay una creciente competitividad entre los dos países en Asia Central y Oriente Próximo.

Resumen

Desde la ruptura de la cooperación entre Rusia y Occidente a raíz de la crisis de Ucrania, el vínculo estratégico entre Rusia y China se ha fortalecido. Una alianza entre Rusia y China a nivel global puede influir decisivamente en la configuración de un nuevo orden internacional, por lo que es importante definir los intereses comunes que fortalecen su vínculo estratégico, así como los conflictos de intereses en diferentes regiones del mundo que debilitan su cooperación.…  Seguir leyendo »

On Tuesday, top Trump administration intelligence officials testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Russian government is continuing in its efforts to interfere in American elections and will likely target the 2018 Congressional midterms. The intelligence officials also noted that Moscow’s actions in the U.S. are part of a broader global effort and that China is also taking steps to expand its overseas influence.

The hearing made clear that more needs to be done, both to understand and to counter Chinese and Russian actions. In an important new report released last month, the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) called attention to China and Russia’s efforts to increase their global reach.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Quiet Rivalry Between China and Russia

China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, an economic expansion plan that follows the trade routes of the medieval Tang and Yuan dynasties across Eurasia, is overly ambitious because, like all grand strategies, it is aspirational. Yet the future of Eurasia is written into its design.

This new Silk Road serves several goals of China’s leaders, who are intent on making their country a full-fledged superpower. It is a branding operation for many of the roads, bridges, pipelines and railroads that China has already built, linking it with the former-Soviet-controlled countries of energy-rich Central Asia. In the process, One Belt, One Road seeks to develop — and at the same time surround — the Muslim region of China that abuts Central Asia.…  Seguir leyendo »

La creciente amistad ruso-china

Rusia y China suman casi 27 millones de km2 y 1.500 millones de habitantes. Si se agregan sus aliados (Kazajistán, Bielorrusia, Kirguistán, Irán, etc.), se añadirían otros cinco millones de kilómetros cuadrados y 300 millones de personas, para redondear -grosso modo- 32 millones de km2 y 1.800 millones de habitantes. Más que África (30,37 millones de km2 y 1.220 millones de habitantes). Sus costas y las de sus aliados se extienden desde Camboya, en Indochina, hasta el mar de Barents, controlando el mar Caspio, con proyección dominante sobre el mar Negro y decisiva sobre el Báltico. La alianza con Irán les permite proyectarse con fuerza sobre el golfo Pérsico y el océano Índico y, desde Siria, tener presencia en el Mediterráneo.…  Seguir leyendo »

Every Olympics seems to bring with it a doping scandal, and the Rio games are no different. Well before Friday’s opening ceremonies, state-sponsored doping in Russia, widespread doping on the Chinese swim team, and questions about a Rio drug-testing lab have renewed worries about whether a “clean” Olympics will ever be possible.

It might be tempting to throw up one’s hands and see these revelations as nothing more than the latest in a series of sordid stories about athletes seeking an edge. After all, pro sports from cycling to baseball are rife with similar tales of performance-enhancing substances. But the recent Olympic doping scandals are symptomatic of something more significant: the return of semi-rogue countries determined to bypass international norms and conventions in a systematic way not seen since the cold war.…  Seguir leyendo »

A principios de este año, cuando el presidente ruso Vladímir Putin anunció que estaba formando una guardia nacional de 400.000 hombres que sólo respondería ante él, muchos rusos se preguntaron por qué era necesaria una nueva fuerza militar. Después de todo, el ejército ruso ha regresado: Putin lo equipó con nuevos juguetes, e incluso organizó dos pequeñas guerras –en Georgia en el 2008 y en Ucrania, a partir del 2014– para probarlo.

Pero el golpe de Estado fallido contra el también hombre fuerte, el presidente turco Recep Tayyip Erdogan, apunta a una razón importante para el establecimiento de una guardia pretoriana.…  Seguir leyendo »

En China, el retrato del presidente Xi Jinping se ha convertido en omnipresente; desde la muerte de Mao Tsetung, hace cuarenta años, no habíamos asistido a semejante culto de la personalidad. En las escuelas y las Universidades se ha restaurado la enseñanza del marxismo leninismo. Se invita a los miembros del Partido Comunista a prender una insignia en un lugar destacado de su traje, tradición que se había perdido hacía ya una generación. Xi Jinping se dispone a publicar una antología de sus ensayos, en la línea del Libro Rojo de Mao, para fijar la ideología del momento, el nuevo pensamiento único, que será francamente antioccidental.…  Seguir leyendo »

Western media and political institutions tend to describe China and Russia as something of an anti-Western bloc. More autocratic than Western governments — and more skeptical of open institutions and a free press — China and Russia often side with each other in international disputes against European and American interests.

While this characterization isn’t entirely wrong, it overlooks the competition and suspicion between Moscow and Beijing. Today the Sino-Russian rivalry is back in the spotlight, thanks to a recent Chinese proposal for an anti-terror alliance in Central Asia, which does not include Russia — and raises the possibility that tension between the two countries will grow in the coming decades.…  Seguir leyendo »

Could Shipwrecks Lead the World to War?

Archaeology has long been exploited as a political tool. Hitler used artifacts and symbols to manufacture a narrative of Aryan racial superiority. The Islamic State proves its zealotry by destroying evidence of ancient history. Underwater archaeology — the world of shipwrecks and sunken cities — has mostly avoided these kinds of machinations, though. Since no one lives beneath the sea, leaders haven’t found many opportunities for political gains from archaeological sites there.

That is, until now.

In the past few years, politicians in Canada, Russia and China have realized that they can use shipwrecks on the sea floor to project their sovereignty into new maritime territories.…  Seguir leyendo »

China President Xi Jinping and Russia President Vladimir Putin along with other BRICS leaders, November 2014.

President Xi Jinping of China has been offering his countrymen a vision of China’s future that he labels the ‘Chinese Dream.’ This future China will be prosperous, respected, and environmentally sound; it will be influential and admired for its accomplishments in creating a harmonious, stable, and well-off society. In pursuit of these goals, Xi has cracked down on corruption, elevated the importance of environmental regulation and quality of life over simple pursuit of maximizing GDP, and sought to encourage China’s leadership in regional development through new institutions like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Xi has also sought to increase China’s influence in the region and the world through its role in international organizations like the BRICS, ASEAN, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.…  Seguir leyendo »

Los chinos, entre todos los pueblos, son los que tienen la mentalidad más histórica. En su conquista del poder, Mao Zedong usó tácticas militares derivadas de aquellas de Sun Tzu, quien vivió alrededor del año 500 a. de C.; El confucianismo, que data de alrededor de la misma época, se mantiene en el corazón del pensamiento social de China, a pesar de que Mao llevó a cabo implacables intentos por suprimirlo.

Así que cuando el presidente Xi Jinping lanzó su iniciativa llamada la “Nueva Ruta de la Seda” en el año 2013, nadie debería haberse sorprendido por la referencia histórica. La Comisión Estatal de Desarrollo y Reforma de China explica la iniciativa de esta manera: “Hace más de dos milenios, los diligentes y valientes pobladores de Eurasia exploraron y abrieron varias vías de intercambio comercial y cultural que vincularon a las principales civilizaciones de Asia, Europa y África; las generaciones posteriores denominaron colectivamente a dichas vías como la Ruta de la Seda”.…  Seguir leyendo »

This week’s joint naval exercise between Russia and China in the Black and Mediterranean Seas, along with President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow last week, highlight the growing ties between Eurasia’s two great powers. Though they share key economic interests and oppose what they claim to be a U.S.-dominated world order, the two nations’ relationship over time promises to be uneven and tense.

One crucial source of discord is that China is a rising power and Russia is not. Moscow may not be willing to accept a junior partnership with China, nor is China likely to treat Russia with the respect Moscow would assume as its right.…  Seguir leyendo »

Much has been written about the relationship between China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, largely making the case that theirs is a close personal relationship, based on their similarities. One publication went so far as to assert that “Xi is China’s Putin.” As much fun as this bromance theory might be, it misreads both men, and attributes to personalities what is better explained by political realities.

Xi and Putin have met on at least 10 occasions since Xi assumed office. Both have waxed effusive about their friendship. Putin said that he and Xi shared vodka and sandwiches as they celebrated Putin’s 61st birthday together.…  Seguir leyendo »

Algunos analistas piensan que 2014 marcó el inicio de una nueva era de geopolítica al estilo de la de la Guerra Fría. La invasión de Ucrania y la anexión de Crimea por parte del presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin, se recibieron con fuertes sanciones económicas de Europa y los Estados Unidos, lo que debilitó los vínculos de Rusia con Occidente, y dejó al Kremlin ansioso de fortalecer sus relaciones con China. La pregunta es si Rusia logrará crear una verdadera alianza con la República Popular.

A primera vista parece posible. En efecto, las teorías clásicas del equilibrio de poder sugieren que la primacía de los Estados Unidos en cuanto a recursos energéticos se debería contrarrestar con una asociación sino-rusa.…  Seguir leyendo »

upper hand: Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) signed a natural gas agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but President Obama is still working on a deal. (RIA Novosti via Associated Press)

Recently, at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing, dignitaries from around the world gathered to promote greater economic cooperation. At APEC, the United States and China finalized a new deal that would limit greenhouse gas emissions. President Obama hailed the agreement as a “milestone in the U.S.-China relationship”.

But is this the flowering of a renewed relationship?

The climate deal itself places China at an advantage. The U.S. has agreed to double the pace of its carbon-dioxide reductions after 2020 and set new targets for reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% by 2025. However, China did not commit to cut emissions by any specific amount, giving merely a vague promise to set a peak in emissions by 2030.…  Seguir leyendo »

Los tiempos que vivimos suelen verse reflejados mejor en el espejo del arte. Mucho se ha escrito acerca del poscomunismo en Rusia y China, pero creo que nada de eso pinta tan bien el paisaje social y político de estos países como dos películas recientes: Un toque de pecado (China, 2013) de Jia Zhangke y Leviatán (Rusia, 2014) de Andréi Zviagintsev.

La película de Jia cuenta cuatro historias independientes, que muestran actos de extrema violencia aislados (en su mayor parte extraídos de noticias recientes). Leviatán trata sobre un hombre decente a quien el alcalde del pueblo le arruina la vida, en connivencia con la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa y un tribunal corrupto.…  Seguir leyendo »

One of the main criticisms against Washington’s attempt to sanction Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggressive actions in Ukraine is that this is driving Russia and China closer together. Such concerns are unfounded, first because the two are already close strategic partners, but more importantly because neither really trusts the other … nor should they.

The truth is, when Russia and China get in bed together, they both sleep with one eye open!

This is not to say that Sino-Russian cooperation has not been significant. Last year Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation signed a $400 billion contract to jointly build a gas pipeline.…  Seguir leyendo »