1st Year of Ukraine Crisis: Sino-Russian Strategic Security-Economic Cooperation Relations

Chung, JaeHung

(jameschung@sejong.org)

Director of Center for Chinese Studies

The Sejong Institute

      Amid the atmosphere of a new Cold War between the U.S. and China, a full-fledged competition for hegemony over the Ukraine crisis has begun after Putin's special military operation against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In particular, China announced the establishment of a multipolar international order and integration of the Eurasian region in the mid-long term based on strategic-economic cooperation with Russia triggered by the Ukraine crisis and the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

     In the end, the confrontation between the U.S. and Europe centered on liberal-democratic power, and China, and Russia centered on authoritarian power in the post-Ukrainian crisis in the Eurasian region. In other words, China will be challenging the U.S.-centered international norm while expanding strategic economic-security relations with Russia which exert its influence as a strategic actor in the upcoming New Cold War conflict. Eventually, the strategic and geopolitical conflict between Russia and U.S.-NATO led to War in Ukraine, while China holds strategic cooperation with Russia against changes in the Middle East and the multi-polarization of international order in Eurasia.

     Multiple developing countries in Eurasia(including Central Asia, Iran, India, North Korea, etc.) are united under Russia and China, creating the prolonged war in Ukraine. China, in particular, was in confrontation against the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy along with U.S., Korea, and Japan's joint statement with matters over Taiwan will continue to support Russia in the Ukraine crisis to consume U.S. power and its status in international society. As a result, a post-Ukrainian crisis will likely show the continuing cooperation between China and Russia and expand, sharing their idea of multi-polarized international order with Eurasian countries. China and Russia argue the U.S. and the West advocate liberal-based international order and rule-based order only to justify their increase in their benefits and unilateralism, resulting in the establishment of the independent sphere for a multi-polarized international order.

     Eventually, the Ukraine crisis drove the Sino-Russia relationship into a solid relationship. After the Invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. and Western countries imposed strong economic sanctions to isolate China, but to see Global South and anti-western countries unite with China and Russia to respond against the U.S. and the West. Hence, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the Korean peninsula will be a geopolitical confrontation at the Eurasian level and key issue for China and Russia to respond strategically to reorganize the multipolar order in various aspects such as Middle East order, Taiwan and security issues in Korean peninsula related to the result of War in Ukraine. Therefore it is necessary to predict new international order in various aspects after the Ukraine crisis and seek realistic and feasible measures toward Korean Peninsula with multilateralism and joint-cooperative security perspectives.