China's Strategic Partnership with Russia amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

According to a joint statement issued by the two countries, Sino-Russian relations have reached "the highest level in their history" and exceeded the form of a military and political alliance during the Cold War.1 In the meantime, Russian President Vladimir Putin called China's President Xi Jinping his "dear friend" and the relations with China a real model of interstate cooperation in the 21st century.2 Despite the warm words exchanged between the two leaders, in a contradictory manner, Russia was one of the first countries to shut the border with China during the early outbreak of COVID-19 in the Chinese city of Wuhan. [...]there have been concerns that COVID-19 could have shaken the strategic partnership between Russia and China.3 These concerns are not simply unfounded fears since China's mishandling of COVID-19 during the early phases resulted in severe global backlash from the world. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, the majority of advanced economies believe the Chinese government poorly handled the COVID-19 outbreak and negative views of China have reached historic highs.4 Given the gap between rhetoric and reality in the Sino-Russian strategic partnership and the global backlash faced by China, this research examines two fundamental questions related to the development of the bilateral relationship (1) What is the real nature of the strategic partnership between Russia and China? (2) Does Russia's response to COVID-19 pandemic indicate its shift in attitude toward China? [...]Sino-Russian cooperation was more political than economic at the time.