Putin Says Formal Russia-China Military Alliance Possible Amid Mounting Western Threats

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on October 22nd that while there was no immediate need for a Sino-Russian military alliance, there was a possibility that such an alliance could be forged in future. The President’s statement came at a time of strengthening economic and strategic ties between Moscow and Beijing, and amid growing perceived threats to both nations from a more assertive and interventionist Western world. The statement could be interpreted as a move to counter Western efforts to isolate China and cement a growing alliance against the country - both through expansion of the NATO alliance by granting partial membership to Latin American states such as Brazil and Colombia and through a strengthening of the U.S.-led QUAD alliance which explicitly targets China. Western backed military coups in Sudan and Bolivia in 2019 were also seen to have targeted countries friendly to China and Russia and forcefully expanding the Western sphere of influence. China and Russia have strengthened ties through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation military bloc, which also includes a number of post-Soviet Central Asian states as well as India and Pakistan, although a more formal mutual defence commitment could facilitate greater efforts to foster interoperability in their militaries in the face of a common and imminent threat.