No impact turn --- safe limits check military involvement

No impact turn --- safe limits check military involvement

Driven by real and compelling interests, the Sino-Russian relationship in the last five years has reached the level of an "entente": basic compatibility of worldviews supported by practical collaboration in a large number of areas. As Beijing and Moscow look to the future, they understand not only the potential of their cooperation, but also its safe limits. Both countries insist on full sovereignty and freedom of maneuver. They see each other as a key and close partner. … The essence of the Sino-Russian relationship can be summarized thus: Russia and China will never be against each other, but they will not necessarily always be with each other. (China Daily, 06.05.19) Putin and Xi are on the same page when it comes to the fundamental concept of a desirable world order: several independent power centers instead of a single-nation hegemony; protection of state sovereignty from foreign political and ideological influence; and full equality in relations among the major powers, including the United States. Chinese and Russian strategies and tactics in foreign affairs are as different as their cultures, but now that the liberal democratic order led and dominated by the U.S. has passed its prime, the two neighbors’ efforts are pretty much aligned. (China Daily, 09.11.18) Crucially, China on the whole has kept away from the U.S.-Russian confrontation, while Russia doesn’t want to be drawn into disputes between China and the U.S. Rather than a list of weaknesses and deficiencies of the Russia-China relationship, this ability to allow for side exemptions and set clear limits for expectations to keep the core intact testifies to the resilience of the relationship. (China Daily, 09.11.18) Still, a Russia-China defense alliance is a far-fetched possibility. Both China and Russia regard themselves as self-sufficient military powers. Neither Russia nor China would want—or tolerate—a hierarchical relationship with the other. Permanent military alliances in peacetime are a thing of the past, or—as in the case of NATO—a reflection of dominance and voluntary submission, hardly relevant for China and Russia. Yet the Moscow-Beijing relationship, while not an alliance, is also more than the strategic partnership it still calls itself. To borrow a word from the past century, it is best described as an entente—a basic agreement about the fundamentals of world order supported by a strong body of common interest. (China Daily, 09.11.18)