Moscow's Asian strategy

Editor's note: WND's multi-lingual reporter Toby Westerman
specializes in monitoring global shortwave broadcasts and reading
foreign-language news journals for information not readily available
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By I.J. Toby Westerman
© 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

Continuing Moscow's near decade-long strategy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has emphasized that Asia is a foreign policy priority, stating that China is the key to Asia.

Putin declared that Russia needs to "look East and West," according to official Russian sources.

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Putin has "assigned a priority to the relationship with Asia," although Moscow will continue to maintain "close relations with Europe and the rest of the world." Putin characterized China as the vital element in Moscow's Asian strategy because "we border on the most powerful Asian country" -- China. The Russian president's statements were made during a press conference prior to his first trip to China, which begins today.

Putin's remarks were carried by the Voice of Russia World Service, the official broadcasting service of the Russian government.

Putin's foreign policy declaration caps nearly a decade of Russian involvement on the Asian continent, particularly in China. His visit to Beijing not only confirms Russia's strategic relationship with the Asian giant, but also confirms the personal relationship that exists with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Jiang was one of the first to congratulate Putin on his election to the Russian presidency in March, but the two first met only in July during a summit of the "Shanghai 5" -- Russia, China, and the Central Asian republics of Kazakstan, Kirgizia and Tajikistan -- held in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe.

The Chinese leader also shares Putin's oft-stated admiration for Russian cultural achievements. Jiang is fluent in Russian, once worked in a Russian factory, and enjoys reading the Russian novelist Tolstoy in the original Russian.

Putin's foreign policy priorities reflect Moscow's steady increase in diplomatic, trade and military activities with Beijing that began after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Although Moscow maintained ties with its traditional friends on the Asian continent -- North Korea and Vietnam -- the new Russian government moved swiftly to end the Soviet-era rift between China and Russia.

By December 1995, then Russian Defense Minister Pavel S. Grachev stated that China was "Russia's major partner in the field of military and technical cooperation" and described the relationship between the two as "an example of mutual trust and genuine friendship."

In April 1996, Yeltsin called for a "Community of Security in the Asia-Pacific region" in cooperation with China. One year later, Moscow and Beijing issued a joint declaration calling for a "New World Order" based upon a "multi-polar" world and opposed to the purported dominance of the United States in international affairs, which had been described as a "uni-polar" arrangement.

Recent reports state that Russia has sold advanced warships to China capable of firing the highly sophisticated "Sunburn" missile. A story

first reported by WorldNetDaily, the "Sunburn" poses a deadly threat to U.S. battle fleets and could make costly any U.S. intervention during a mainland Chinese attack against Taiwan.

Chinese and Russian regional cooperation also carries international importance. During the July 2000 meeting of the Shanghai 5, all members jointly condemned the U.S. initiative for a national anti-missile defense system. China took the opportunity to express its continued support of Russian actions in Chechnya, and, in turn, Russia reaffirmed its solidarity with China's view of Taiwan as a rebel province.

Moscow and Beijing are also the major supporters of plans for an overland route from China to Europe -- a modern version of the old "silk route" -- that would cross through Russia and the republics of Central Asia. If carried out, the route would tie Russia and China even more closely and bring increased trade and commercial revenue to both countries.

Related stories:

China to launch missiles near Taiwan

Navy to get Russian 'Sunburn'

Related column:

Moscow-Beijing axis