Hsiung 19 (Christopher Weidacher Hsiung has worked as researcher at the Centre for Asian Security Studies at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS) from 2012 to 2017. He is currently a PhD-candidate in political science at Oslo University. Christopher has also worked at the Swedish Embassy in Beijing, the Swedish Trade Office in Taipei, and at the European University Centre at Peking University. In 2014 he was a visiting scholar at the School of International Studies (SIS) at Peking University and in 2015 researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (FNI). Christopher’s main research interests are China’s foreign and security policy, China-Russia relations and China’s Arctic interest. Christopher has studied Chinese language in Beijing, Wuhan and Taipei., 2019, “Facing the ‘new normal’: The strong and enduring Sino-Russian relationship and its implications for Europe,” The Swedish Institute of International Affairs, https://www.ui.se/globalassets/ui.se-eng/publications/ui-publications/2019/ui-paper-no.-3-2019.pdf) ank
Russia and China aim to further develop common regional and international institutions, most notably the SCO and the BRICS. Cooperation among the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) was early on motivated by a shared aspiration to reduce the influence of the West, demonstrated by efforts to reform global economic governance to better represent the interests of the BRICS. The agenda covers policy areas such as economics, trade and finance, poverty reduction and sustainable development. From the outset, however, the BRICS were hampered by the limited extent of their cooperation and their failure to devise a concrete, shared agenda. These differences notwithstanding, cooperation and institutional arrangements have expanded and been centered on China’s “tacit leadership”. For instance, in July 2014 the BRICS established the New Development Bank (NDB) with capital of USD 50 billion and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), a currency-reserve pool of USD 100 billion. Politically, the BRICS have demonstrated support for Russia’s actions in Crimea. In addition, the SCO has witnessed some slow but important developments on increased counterterrorism cooperation. Most important, however, is the fact that India and Pakistan were admitted as full members in 2017 after years of Chinese reluctance to allow India to join, a position that was supported by Russia.
