The Strategic Connotation and Implications of the Strategic Triangle of Russia, China and India, by Jun Kee BAEK et al. Studies in Comprehensive Regional Strategies 12-10, 2012-12-31, The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
It is noted that the formation of the Strategic Triangle of Russia, China and India is one of the most significant political events in the rearrangement of world order after the Cold War. After President Yeltsin defined the situation after the end of the Cold War as a ‘cold peace’ and proposed the idea of strategic co-operation among the three nations in 1993, the initiative was taken in 1996 by Yevgeny Primakov, then Russian foreign minister, who supported the idea of ‘eurasianism.’
Since 2006, after their declaration of the Year of Russia, Year of China and Year of India, the three nations have endeavored not only to enhance political-economic cooperation but also to build common values by taking a cultural approach. The Strategic Triangle of Russia, China and India, which can be interpreted as an ‘Entente Cordiale,’ can be defined as a ‘political alliance’ or ‘quasi-alliance’ closer to a network alliance rather than a military alliance.
This paper is composed of three main parts. First, this paper outlines a brief history of Sino-Russian relations which has demonstrated dual aspects of conflict and cooperation since the Cold War era. Secondly, it gives special focus to several cooperative and competing factors that exercised great influence on the development of relations between China and Russia in the post-Cold War era. Third, considering that American forces have played an overwhelming role in maintaining US hegemony in the Asia-Pacific, it examines how the RIC regime as a burgeoning strategic triangle might go on to establish a multi-polar system for power balancing, under closer cooperation between China and Russia…