Moscow-Beijing and the ‘third offset strategy’

The two countries now cooperate in the energy and military supply sectors. And have the US quaking.

Excusatio non petita accusatio manifesta: he who excuses himself without being asked accuses himself. This principle was on display when China’s ambassador to Russia, Li Hui, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, “We do not intend to establish a military alliance in any form”. Li then added that Moscow and Beijing want to develop an “all-inclusive and broad collaboration” that would in fact include military technology, although this partnership is not “aimed against third parties and [does] not affect the interests of third countries”.

The Pentagon does not see it that way: the US is preparing plans on the scale of a Third World War to deal with a hypothetical joint attack by the two world powers.

The likelihood of an alliance has grown with the conflict in Ukraine and Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which triggered European and US sanctions. Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the moment to open new trade channels with China and negotiate a natural gas supply deal worth billions. Since then, the two countries have been signing bilateral agreements on issues ranging from arms and energy to finance. After years of waiting, Beijing was finally able to buy the S-400 surfaceto- air missile system from the Kremlin, clinching the most impressive trade agreement of the decade. 

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