Over the last two decades, relations between China and Russia have grown closer in ways that pose significant challenges for the United States and its allies and partners. Recently, as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have consolidated power, the two leaders have cultivated a strategic axis that, while not a formal alliance, aims to undermine the United States and other liberal nations while expanding Chinese and Russian influence abroad. In this volume, leading U.S. experts explore the contours of this emergent axis of authoritarians in multiple domains and consider policy options for the United States to strengthen its position and defend its interests.

China and Russia have grown progressively closer over the last two decades, yielding a China-Russia “axis” uniquely capable of challenging the United States and of revising key aspects of the international order. Although the scholarly literature has offered detailed descriptions and various ad hoc explanations of this trend, the Sino-Russian bilateral relationship has been the subject of very little scrutiny using rigorous theory, which has precluded the formation of logically coherent and empirically supported explanations for increasing China-Russia cooperation. Moreover, the cooperative post-Cold War trend in the bilateral relationship is puzzling for each of the major paradigms of international relations theory: realism, constructivism and liberalism. This volume brings together leading IR scholars from various theoretical perspectives, as well as theoretically-informed experts in Chinese and Russian foreign policy. The chapters develop and apply nuanced theoretical arguments to derive testable hypotheses for the cooperative trend in China-Russia relations. In contrast to existing scholarship, the book offers generalizable insights that both improve our understanding of a crucially important contemporary case, while also advancing IR theory in substantial ways.

Since 2014, China and Russia have strengthened their relationship. In this report, the authors seek to understand the impact of the Chinese-Russian relationship on the United States and implications for future U.S. policy.

'In this book, distinguished specialists of international politics and China-Russia relations offer multiple theoretical perspectives and rich empirical research on the international and domestic sources of Sino-Russian cooperation and the likely trajectory of relations. The volume's original scholarship explains the dynamics of this critical twenty-first-century relationship and its impact on great power politics and European and Asian security affairs.' -Robert S. Ross, Professor of Political Science, Boston College, and Associate of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, USA 'A much-needed deep dive into the growing relationship between China and Russia. Top experts leverage theoretical and empirical expertise to explain what is driving Beijing and Moscow together, and why it is important for national security and global stability. A must-read for students, scholars and practitioners alike.' -Oriana Skylar Mastro, Center Fellow, Freemand Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University, USA China and Russia have grown progressively closer over the last two decades, yielding a China-Russia "axis" uniquely capable of challenging the United States and of revising key aspects of the international order. Although the scholarly literature has offered detailed descriptions and various ad hoc explanations of this trend, the Sino-Russian bilateral relationship has been the subject of very little scrutiny using rigorous theory, which has precluded the formation of logically coherent and empirically supported explanations for increasing China-Russia cooperation. Moreover, the cooperative post-Cold War trend in the bilateral relationship is puzzling for each of the major paradigms of international relations theory: realism, constructivism and liberalism. This volume brings together leading IR scholars from various theoretical perspectives, as well as theoretically-informed experts in Chinese and Russian foreign policy. The chapters develop and apply nuanced theoretical arguments to derive testable hypotheses for the cooperative trend in China-Russia relations. In contrast to existing scholarship, the book offers generalizable insights that both improve our understanding of a crucially important contemporary case, while also advancing IR theory in substantial ways. Brandon Yoder is Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

This open access book examines Russia-China relations across a variety of civilian and military areas of cooperation. Leading experts in the field present empirical case studies covering a wide range of strategic cooperation areas between Russia and China, such as technological, military, economic and political cooperation. The contributing authors shed new light on Chinese and Russian strategic goals, external push and pull factors, and mutual perception shifts, and discuss the options for Western countries to influence this development. This book analyses the evolution of the relationship since the watershed moment of the Crimean crisis in 2014, and whether or not a full-blown military alliance, as hinted in late 2020 by President Putin, is indeed a realistic scenario for which NATO will have to prepare. It will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, political decision-makers, as well as anyone interested in Eurasian politics and the potential military-strategic impact of a Russian-Chinese alliance for NATO.

As the world evolves in increasingly unpredictable directions, one of the key determinants of the future global order will surely be the impact of China. No country and no society can escape China's reach-indeed many seek its embrace. China brings benefits to many-but it's also a problematic interlocutor for others. In China and the World, one of the world's leading China specialists David Shambaugh has assembled fifteen leading international authorities on China to create the most comprehensive and up-to-date scholarly assessment of China's foreign relations and roles in international affairs. The volume covers China's contemporary position in all regions of the world, with all major powers, and across multiple arenas of China's international interactions. It also explores the sources of China's grand strategy, how the past shapes the present, and the impact of domestic factors that shape China's external behavior. China and the World is a uniquely focused and well-organized volume that provides many insights into China's calculations and behavior, and identifies a number of challenges China will face in the future.