If China is looking for more freedom to operate “through it/along side it” inside Russia, China has to be careful becos it might be considered a humiliation and encroaching of Russia's sovereignty by the Russians. That's exactly what happened between China and Soviet Union in the 1960s. Then, Soviet Union wanted to jointly operate Chinese navy and naval bases inside China, Mao was totally angered by such insensitive, insulting and chauvinistic proposal from Khrushchev considering China's recent history at the hands of former Western and Jap imperial powers inside China. The result, China broke off good relation with Soviet Union and the two countries became enemies.They will know trade is happening, and in RMB, they will even be able to quantify it by the amount of electricity being generated and used. Just because it’s in RMB, it won’t be overlooked by the US, not for an economy that was up until recently, was estimated to be over a trillion dollars in size.
I also don’t think China would want to take any territory, per say, but may want to have more freedom to operate “through it/along side it”.
But I agree, The territorial integrity of Russia is in china’s interest as a buffer to hostile foreign interference, no doubt. And China wouldn’t want to take on the burden of managing Russia or Russian territory.
I guess it’s too early to tell how China will have to maneuver in this new world order, if it has to.
Last edited: