Abstract
This chapter examines the factors most responsible for shaping military relations between Russia and China over the last decade in order to explain the course of their development. It examines the evolution of military cooperation in three specific areas: arms and technology transfers, joint military exercises and coordination of their respective defense postures. Based on this review, the chapter finds that, while military relations between Moscow and Beijing have improved significantly in all three areas post-Ukraine, underlying tensions in the relationship continue to limit defense cooperation to a significant degree. Nevertheless, the increase in military relations is genuine and reflects a growing alignment between the two countries that is likely to persist over the short-term.
Keywords
- Arms sales
- Military technology
- Defense posture
- Military exercises
- Naval exercises
- Peace Mission
- Joint Sea
- Arms embargo
- Military reforms
- PLA
- THAAD
- Ukraine
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Schwartz, P.N. (2019). The Military Dimension in Sino-Russian Relations. In: Bekkevold, J.I., Lo, B. (eds) Sino-Russian Relations in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92516-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92516-5_5
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