Russia-China Relations in the Age of COVID-19: Strategic Partners, Extra-Regional Rivals

About

Speaker: Samuel Ramani, D.Phil. Candidate in International Relations, St. Antony's College, University of Oxford

As the COVID-19 pandemic plunges the international order into a state of flux, the Russia-China strategic partnership has inexorably strengthened. Russia and China have jointly expressed their opposition to U.S. "unilateralism, protectionism and hegemony," and pledged to cooperate more closely on challenges ranging from vaccine development to combatting disinformation. Beneath the surface, however, the simultaneous expansion of Russian and Chinese influence in extra-regional theatres, such as the Middle East and Africa, has created potential seeds of discord.

This seminar will examine this contradiction in the Russia-China relationship and assess whether lessons from the Cold War–era Sino-Soviet Split can help predict the partnership's future direction. It will also examine how these contradictory trends in Russia-China relations could impact U.S. foreign policy and assess whether Russia and China chiefly pose a combined threat or two disparate challenges to U.S. hegemony in the post-pandemic era.

Everyone is welcome to join us via Zoom! Register in advance for this meeting: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEtduCrqTkvGNfXBx_5jgfRvTV0s5aAFKgP

Contact

For more information, email the International Security Program Assistant at susan_lynch@harvard.edu.