Shannon Brandao
From the article: "💯🏆CEPA [excerpt]: The Sino-Russian alliance is very different from those of the US. There are few positive shared values or cultural fundamentals. Instead, it is a coming together of #authoritarian states with the shared purpose of opposing the United States and its allies. Beijing and Moscow see themselves as united in a civilizational struggle against the West.
There is no question of their hostility and unity of purpose, but there is a question of if and how quickly the Sino-Russian political and economic axis will morph into a hardcore #military pact.
In July, Russian and Chinese naval forces conducted a joint military exercise in the Sea of Japan. While #China’s state-run Global Times declared that the Northern/Interaction-2023 exercise marked the first time that both #Russia’s #navy and #airforce had taken part in a joint drill led by the Chinese navy, PLAN, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia and China held five or more military exercises in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea last year.
There’s something still more concerning. Russia possesses some high-end military technologies. If it shared those with China (and there are now signs that it is doing so), this would change the balance of #power in the #IndoPacific faster than most analysts have anticipated, especially if China gets access to naval technologies for its rapidly growing #maritime forces.
This expanding Sino-Russian military cooperation should give Washington pause. In key areas of defense #technology, Moscow has much to offer Beijing, and as Putin grows more dependent on Xi for political and economic support, those technologies, especially #hypersonics and attack #submarine propulsion systems, can help the People’s Liberation Army and the People’s Liberation Army Navy leapfrog into key areas where they are currently deficient.
The same goes for operational and tactical lessons the two can draw from each other, laying the foundation for a degree of interoperability that didn’t exist before. It is fair to assume that under their 'no-limits partnership,' naval drills of the sort witnessed earlier this year are just the beginning of a deepening military-to-military cooperation between the two countries.
There has also been a significant expansion of Russian-Chinese economic ties, not only when it comes to Chinese purchases of Russian energy, but also in terms of an increase in China’s presence in the Russian market, replacing key Western companies that have left due to sanctions."
#news #geopolitics