Altai gas pipeline

• China has agreed to strengthen its relationship with Russia, after a meeting between Russia foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and China’s foreign minister Wang Yi.
• They both used the occasion to criticise the west’s “cold war thinking” and accuse it of bullying.
• International affairs editor Rachael Jolley asked Natasha Kuhrt, an expert on the Russia-China relationship from King’s College London, to explain why the conversation was important.
• According to Lavrov, the two were also due to discuss security issues including terrorism in the Eurasian region (the landmass stretching from China to Europe).
• In the context of US power and a rising China, Russia fears a decline in its status.
• In the Indo-Pacific, Russia seems to be increasingly willing to assist China in its efforts to intimidate US allies.
• At the 2022 Madrid summit Nato belatedly acknowledged the importance of the Russia-China relationship, and the worst-case scenario of a two-front war.

Natasha Kuhrt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.