All articles tagged with #china russia
China‑dominated traffic on Russia’s Northern Sea Route is expanding, with sanctioned Russian LNG being moved to China via new private Chinese shippers and seasonal Arctic services. While the route boosts energy ties and Arctic development, Western sanctions, environmental risks, and questions about year‑round viability keep many observers cautious about its long‑term potential.
Four years of war and Western sanctions have shifted the Russia–China relationship in Beijing's favor: Xi publicly treats Putin as an equal while privately extracting concessions, pressing for below-market terms on Power of Siberia 2, expanding trade and yuan-based financing for a development bank, and deepening ties that leave Moscow more dependent on China even as it seeks to guard against instability around North Korea and the broader Western order.
Raja Mohan argues that the world is not entering a true multipolar order: the United States remains the sole global pole, while China and Russia, though powerful regionally, cannot project power globally or form cohesive counterweights. The multipolar narrative has instead enabled Washington to pursue unilateral action more freely, with allies hedging and institutions evolving around U.S. leadership. In short, multipolarity is aspirational at best and unipolar power endures in practice.