Wary Embrace: A Lowy Institute Paper: Penguin Special: What the Russia-China relationship means for the world A

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With Western countries consumed by domestic problems, will it be Russia and China who now define the rules of global politics? From Syria to the South China Sea, each has become much more assertive, and their partnership has emerged from relative obscurity to acquire a new prominence in world affairs. Yet appearances are deceptive. Moscow and Beijing have shown no capacity to cooperate on grand strategy or establish new international norms. This is no authoritarian alliance, but a partnership of strategic convenience - pragmatic, calculating and limited.With Western countries consumed by domestic problems, will it be Russia and China who now define the rules of global politics? From Syria to the South China Sea, each has become much more assertive, and their partnership has emerged from relative obscurity to acquire a new prominence in world affairs. Yet appearances are deceptive. Moscow and Beijing have shown no capacity to cooperate on grand strategy or establish new international norms. This is no authoritarian alliance, but a partnership of strategic convenience - pragmatic, calculating and limited.
Bobo Lo is an independent analyst and former Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. His latest book, Russia and the New World Disorder, was short-listed for the 2016 Pushkin House Prize, and was described by The Economist as the 'best attempt yet to explain Russia's unhappy relationship with the rest of the world'.