China–Russia relations
China and Russia share one of the world's most important foreign relationships. Both nations share interest in energy cooperation, military ties, and geopolitical alignment in challenging the West and the United States.
Relations between China and Russia go back to the 16th century. Though initially allies during the Cold War, China and the Soviet Union were rivals after the Sino-Soviet split in 1961. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, China and Russia established diplomatic relations, with the relationship strengthening significantly afterwards. The two countries share a land border which was demarcated in 1991, and they signed the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001. Ties grew closer following international sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea, which led Russia to pursue a pivot to China; in that year, China and Russia signed a 30-year gas deal worth $400 billion. Ties have continued to deepen since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022, with Russia increasingly becoming dependent on China while it is under large-scale international sanctions. China and Russia have significant economic ties, and Russia is an important source of natural energy and oil for China. China is Russia's largest trading partner. The annual trade between China and Russia was $234 billion as of 2025.
China and Russia have enjoyed close relations militarily, economically, and politically, while supporting each other on various global issues. Commentators have debated whether the bilateral strategic partnership constitutes an alliance. Russia and China officially declared their relations "Not allies, but better than allies". The two countries cooperate through multilateral organizations and project such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS and the Belt and Road Initiative. Russia recognizes Taiwan as an integral part of China, and supports Chinese unification. Russia also supports China's policies in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang. In turn, China has called for Russia's security concerns to be accounted for and has opposed the enlargement of NATO.
History
The relations between China and Russia go back to the 16th century, when the Qing dynasty tried to drive Russian settlers out of Manchuria, ended by the signing of the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The Russian Empire consolidated its control over the Russian Far East in the 19th century, after the annexation of part of Chinese Manchuria.After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China and the USSR were initially allies. During the Cold War, the two countries turned into rivals after the Sino-Soviet split in 1961, competing for control of the worldwide Communist movement. There was a serious possibility of a major war between the two nations in the early 1960s; a brief border war took place in 1969. This enmity began to lessen after the death of Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong in 1976, but relations were poor until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
1990s
Russia under President Boris Yeltsin initially prioritized relations with the West, paying little attention to relations with China. During a visit to China, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev criticized China's human rights policies. Russia also moved to strengthen unofficial ties with Taiwan. The CCP in turn considered Yeltsin as a traitor and anti-communist, but decided to maintain pragmatic ties; a leaked Politburo meeting in January 1992 said that "Even if Yeltsin is very reactionary we can internally curse him and pray for his downfall, but we shall still have to maintain normal state relations with him".By summer of 1992, Yeltsin started pursuing a less pro-Western foreign policy. China invited Yeltsin to visit China in March 1992. On 23 December 1992, Yeltsin made his first official visit to China, where he met with CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin and Chinese president Yang Shangkun. Former leader Deng Xiaoping refused to meet with Yeltsin. Yeltsin and Yang announced a joint declaration, which said that China and Russia were "friendly countries" and "good-neighborly and mutually beneficial". Yeltsin also noted that "the ideological barrier" had been removed. The two countries also signed twenty-five documents ranging from cooperation in technology to space exploration.
During the 1990s, cooperation between China and Russia was facilitated by the two countries' mutual desires to balance the influence of the United States and establish a multi-polar international system. Yeltsin moved Russian foreign policy towards one that balanced the East and the West, while Russian foreign policy discussions were divided on liberals that favored more alignment with the West and Eurasianists that sought closer ties with China. Tensions between Russia and NATO also contributed to Yeltsin's shift towards China. The relationship between the two countries were upgraded from "friendly countries" to a "constructive partnership" in September 1994, and was further upgraded to a "strategic partnership of equality and mutual trust for the 21st century" in April 1996.
In December 1996, at the end of Chinese Premier Li Peng's visit to Moscow, Russia and China issued a joint communique pledging to build an "equal and reliable partnership." In April 1997, the countries announced an agreement to cut down their troops along their borders, and published their first foreign policy joint statement titled the Declaration on the Trend to a Multi-polar World and the Establishment of a New International Order. Yeltsin also started to meet regularly with Chinese leader Jiang Zemin. Yeltsin visited Beijing in November 1997, while Jiang visited Moscow in 1998. Relations were further strengthened by the joint opposition to the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
2000s
In 2000, Vladimir Putin succeeded Yeltsin as the president of Russia. In 2001, the two countries joined with junior partners Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. A month later, the close relations between the two countries were formalized with the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation, a twenty-year strategic, economic, and security treaty. The treaty was later renewed in June 2021 for five more years.In November 2002, Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang Zemin as the CCP General Secretary. Putin and Hu held their first meeting in December 2002. The two leaders met regularly, meeting face to face five or six times a year. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Russian counterparts also met regularly, with Wen quipping in 2007 in a meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov that "We didn’t even use prepared speeches." China backed Russia in the Second Chechen War and in regards to Russia's concerns of NATO expansion, while Russia backed China regarding the issues of Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang. The two countries also increasingly cooperated in the United Nations Security Council. During the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, China opposed Russia's infringement on Georgia's sovereignty. Citing principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and global order, China used its influence in the SCO to prevent the organization from supporting Russia. In 2009, the 1st BRIC summit was held in Russia, including China, Brazil and India.
2010s
In 2011, during a visit to Russia by Hu Jintao, the two countries agreed to upgrade their relationship to a "comprehensive strategic partnership". In November 2012, Xi Jinping succeeded Hu Jintao as the CCP General Secretary and became the top leader of China. Putin and Xi quickly established a close relationship; the pair met more than 40 times from 2013 to 2025. On the eve of a 2013 state visit to Moscow by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that the two nations were forging a special relationship. Xi visited the Operational Command Headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces, the first time a foreign leader visited the building.When China attempted to build closer relations with Russia in 2013, the Russian government initially had reservations. However, the United States sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Crimea helped push Russia to a warmer relationship with China. Although some Chinese banks and companies refused to fully cooperate with Russia because of the concern that secondary sanctions might be applied to them, Russian-Chinese economic ties grew once China itself faced sanctions concerns. China neither denounced nor recognized the Russian annexation of Crimea. In May 2015, Xi Jinping visited Russia to attend the Moscow Victory Day Parade; the two countries signed agreements on joint assembly of a long-range passenger aircraft and the construction of a high-speed railway line from Moscow to Kazan. In 2019, during a visit to Russia by Xi, the two countries upgraded their relationship to a "comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era".File:Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping 57.jpg|thumb|Chinese leader Xi Jinping presented two pandas to Moscow Zoo at a ceremony with Vladimir Putin on 5 June 2019
By 2019, both nations had serious grievances with the United States. For China, the issues were control of the South China Sea, trade policies, and technology policy. For Russia, the main issue was severe economic penalties imposed by the U.S. and Europe to punish its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. China and Russia do, however, differ on some policies. China does not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. Russia has officially kept neutral regarding China's claims in the South China Sea, but has criticized the involvement of "non-regional powers", indirectly referencing the United States. Nevertheless, China and Russia currently enjoy the best relations they have had since the late 1950s. Although they have no formal alliance, the two countries do have an informal agreement to coordinate diplomatic and economic moves, and build up an alliance against the United States.