China and Russia sharply condemned U.S. missile defense plans Friday, taking a harder common line that reinforces an already strong strategic partnership during Dmitry Medvedev's first foreign trip as Russian president. Pushing forward their robust energy cooperation, Russia also signed a $1 billion deal to build a uranium enrichment facility in China and supply low-enriched uranium for use in China's nuclear power industry over the next decade.
Rivals throughout much of the Cold War, Moscow and Beijing have forged close political and military ties since the Soviet collapse, seeking to counter the perceived U.S. global domination. They have spoken against the U.S. missile defense plans in the past, but Friday's declaration by Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao sounded tougher than before.
Without naming the United States, the two leaders said that "the creation of global missile defense systems and their deployment in some regions of the world ... does not help to maintain strategic balance and stability and hampers international efforts in arms control and nuclear nonproliferation."
Like either one of them don't have enough missiles to swamp such a system. Oh well. They must have some ulterior motive.
They also warned against the deployment of arms in space — another clear reference to the United States. "The parties stand for the peaceful use of space and against the deployment of weapons in space and arms race in space," Medvedev and Hu said in the statement released after an afternoon of talks.
The joint position appears to raise the stakes for Washington, which has been trying to persuade Beijing and Moscow not to see the missile shields as threatening. At the same time, the cooperation on diplomatic issues masks deep Russian unease at China's growing power and differences over military and energy sales.
The White House said Friday that it is not disappointed that Medvedev has not changed the stance taken by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin. "We're going to work with them to work through these concerns, and we think we can resolve any concerns that anyone has about this and the true nature of the program," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
It won't work. Something else is driving the Russians. Something very short-sighted, I'm sure.
Beijing has criticized U.S. plans for anti-missile defenses with Japan and Taiwan in the past, fearing that it would blunt China's large arsenal of missiles. But Beijing has mostly been content to let Russia take the lead publicly, knowing the planned deployment of missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic touch a core Russian interest.
"I think that now Russia has convinced China that it needs to speak out more clearly and take a position," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine. "And Russia has gotten what it wanted — I think Medvedev can be satisfied."
The declaration also reflected strong opposition to NATO's expansion to incorporate ex-Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine. "Security of nations can't be ensured at the expense of other countries through the expansion of military-political alliances," the two leaders said.
After signing the declaration with Medvedev, Hu praised the countries' commitment to tackling security issues. "The two sides have always agreed to take the development of strategic cooperation and partnership as a priority," Hu told reporters. He also thanked Medvedev and Putin, now Russia's prime minister, for the mobile hospital and rescue teams Moscow sent after the deadly May 12 earthquake in central China.
"Between friends, there can be no other kind of relations," Medvedev said, offering more assistance.
After a slow warming in the 1990s, Beijing and Moscow have in recent years joined in opposing Kosovo's independence and agreed on how to manage the crisis over Iran's nuclear program. The two have held joint military maneuvers on each other's territory and created a regional security grouping to keep the West out of energy-rich Central Asia.
Statements of cooperation and support aside, there is friction and uncertainty over energy and the nations' shifting economic and diplomatic fortunes.
"China still sees Russia as an equal partner, but that view may change as China keep gaining economic and political weight," Lukyanov said. "In five or seven years, Russia may struggle to maintain parity in political relations with China."
Yeah. But don't tell the Russians that. They aren't listening. And just wait and see what happens if Russia tries turning off the flow of oil to the Chinese then. The Chinese aren't the Europeans. And Russia in a few years won't look like Russia today.
But while Moscow and Beijing have pooled efforts in keeping the West out of Central Asia, they are rivals for control of the region's energy riches.
Medvedev's stop in Kazakhstan on his way to China was apparently intended to send a message to both Beijing and the West that Moscow continues to see the former Soviet Central Asia as its home turf.
Moscow and Beijing also have bickered over the price of Russian energy exports. Disagreements over pricing have slowed construction of an oil pipeline from Siberia and blocked plans for a natural gas pipeline. A separate pipeline to Russia's Pacific coast will force China to compete for Siberian crude with Japan.
China was a major customer for Russian weapons industries, buying billions of dollars worth of jets, missiles, submarines and destroyers. But the arms trade has slumped recently as China wanted more advanced weapons, which Moscow was reluctant to sell. Media reports said Russian officials were concerned about China copying the Russian Su-27 fighter after producing them under license.
It's just the beginning. Get used to it.