Russia's new president visit China
Updated
Russia's new President Dmitry Medvedev has arrived in Beijing, offering energy deals and military co-operation. But he's also seeking pledges of solidarity with China, which Moscow views as a potential ally against a Western world order.
Presenter: Tom Fayle
Speakers: Bob Miller Russian foreign policy specialist at the Australian National University in Canberra.
MILLER: I think it does show the west that Russia has other opportunities, that it doesn't have to rely entirely on the west. But basically the west pays higher prices for Russian gas and gas producers like to have firm contracts and they have those with the west so I wouldn't expect that this shows a great turn away from the west toward the east.
FAYLE: Nevertheless Russia does talk of China as a foreign policy partner, but there's also rivalry there too isn't there?
MILLER: Yes absolutely, I think there is fear in some circles, probably overblown, that China is becoming too big and that Russia will be marginalised as an international relations power. But there too I think the two of them have more in common, namely the desire to block Washington in its foreign policy initiatives in various parts of the world. So they seem to get together and their strategic partnership is more than mere words.
FAYLE: Now Moscow and Beijing do cooperate diplomatically within the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation which includes four central Asian states, including Kazakhstan. Yet there seems to be concern in Washington about what this grouping is actually for. Do you share that unease?
MILLER: Well yes I think it was, I think probably originally proposed by Yevgeny Primakov, the former foreign minister. The Chinese picked it up with alacrity because it did give them an opportunity in an institution to be involved in central Asia. Now the Russians see the central Asian republics pretty much as their own backyard. So they're a bit ambivalent about it. I think they don't take it quite as seriously as the Chinese do, and of course in recent times there are some security implications for China which don't seem to be noticed as much as perhaps they should be.
I'm thinking particularly about the various independence movements, Uighurs in Xinjiang. So the Russians have their own body there, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which China is not a member of and which does directly confront security problems, drug related issues coming across the border from Afghanistan and various other things, sabotage of pipelines and whatever. So they have a fallback position. The Chinese use it and they talk it up quite a bit since the secretariat is in Beijing. So the Chinese are more enthusiastic about it than the Russians are. But one thing that's quite interesting is that various countries are being offered observer status with the possibility of future membership, and one of them is Iran.
FAYLE: Indeed when he was Russian president Vladimir Putin was known for his hawkish statements on Russian foreign policy, but Dmitry Medvedev seems to be adopting a less strident tone?
MILLER: Yes I think that's right. I think it's partly a matter of personality, I think Putin tended to fly off the handle on various occasions, much more sensitive person, but we'll have to see. They are a tandem, I think those people who see a great change in Russian foreign policy as a result of the change in presidents really don't give enough credence to the viewpoints that Putin selected him because he had a similar viewpoint on many issues in the world, on most issues.
