02-07-2017, 01:57 PM
Quote:I see no reason why Russia cannot have a good relation with China with each pursuing their own non-conflicting spheres.
Why do you assume the spheres would stay non-conflicting?
Quote:It won't be like the US-Canada relation. Russia is expansionist, and so China will have to maintain strong land forces as a deterrent. But if Russia can help China give the US a sufficient bloody nose so as to encourage retreat into an isolationist stance, then China's focus will be elsewhere and Russia will have a free hand to recover some of the empire it lost, and keep their ruling class in power through nationalism. If Russia aids the US, then China is frustrated and is pissed at them, and America won't let them have their empire.
If the US continues to behave as it is done, Russia has an incentive to do as you suggest. If America retreats into its hemisphere on its own, this incentive goes away. Russia and the US aren't competitors, provided the US does not continue with maximalist claims regarding its influence. Russia and the US would have ample room to cooperate by propping up countries like Japan and India, in order to keep China's attention focused in that direction.