Russia and China have denied plans to enter into a formal military alliance, even as the two powers increasingly work together in multiple areas, praised the relationship they forged and now support it. represents a new form of superior cooperation in the face of difficult relations with the United States.

During his big annual press conference Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin was explicit: “We do not have a military alliance with China and we do not plan to create one”.

At a time when Moscow and Beijing are involved in more joint efforts than ever before, Putin said that following in Washington’s footsteps by forging official defense pacts like the United States has done with Japan and Korea South would be “counterproductive, and that doesn’t bode well.”

Instead, the Russian leader said, his intention to help China with defense projects such as a new missile early warning radar system was “to add a new quality to the defense capability. of our strategic partner “.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang agreed. He said at a press briefing on Friday that “Sino-Russian relations have shown strong vitality and broad prospects after resisting the changing international landscape over the past seven decades” and “are become an example for a new type of relations between large countries characterized by close cooperation “, partnership instead of alliance and dialogue instead of confrontation.

“The Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic coordination partnership for a new era has become a great country relationship characterized by the highest degree of mutual trust, the highest level of coordination and the highest strategic value,” he said. added, noting that this partnership “will not target a third party and will not be affected by any third party” – a clear reference to worried minds in the West.

Although the missile early warning radar system developed by the two countries for China’s use is defensive in nature, it signaled a new degree of collaboration for neighbors with a much longer history of mutual suspicion. Seventy years after establishing their relationship, Russia and China have overcome much of their Cold War-era feuds and both sides describe their relationship as the best it has ever been. .

Their position is that it is the United States that is stuck in a “cold war mentality”, a way of thinking dominated by “zero sum” tactics unrelated to an emerging and more multipolar world. Washington, however, sees two strategic competitors making gains in its global military and economic supremacy, while at the same time destabilizing a “rules-based international order” established in the aftermath of World War II.

Unlike the Warsaw Pact of the Soviet Union which collapsed with the Eastern Communist bloc in the 1990s, the US-led NATO military alliance has only grown. , now covering almost all of the Eastern European countries once aligned with the Moscow collective. Washington’s exit in 2002 from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 allowed it to deploy advanced defense systems here, and its decision to move away from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty paved the way for the installation of medium-range land launchers. missiles not seen for decades.

These steps have proven to be a fundamental frustration for Putin, who has witnessed the development of this “global missile shield” during his two decades of leadership. These weapons have not only been deployed in Europe, but also on Russia’s eastern flank in Asia-Pacific, making them a major concern for China.

Beijing, which has far fewer nuclear weapons than Moscow and Washington, has refused to enter into bilateral arms control agreements, including the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) which limits Russian and US nuclear arsenals and must expire in February 2021 if President Donald Trump refuses to extend it. Chinese President Xi Jinping has joined his Russian counterpart in investing heavily in military modernization, but it is the economic strength of the People’s Republic that has enabled it to compete globally.

Xi’s Belt and Road Intercontinental Initiative – a series of global infrastructure, technology and energy projects – has been rejected by the Trump administration as a ploy to trap countries in debt. For Putin, this is an opportunity to strengthen his own Eurasian Economic Union and push to attract more Chinese capital as he provides oil and joint military exercises.

The United States has accused the two countries of pursuing aggressive and underhanded tactics to advance their respective authoritarian agendas, while it accuses Washington of seeking to maintain global hegemony.

Yet commentators have long described the relationship between Moscow and Beijing as a marriage of convenience, and they were unlikely to fight big battles, even if that was part of their message to the world.

“Politically, especially militarily, I would say that we are moving forward, but we are not allies,” said the president of the Moscow-based PIR Center, Evgeny Buzhinskiy, a retired Russian lieutenant-general who is also vice-president of the Russian Council for International Affairs. News week last month. “This means that the two sides do not want to force each other to interfere. Russia does not want to interfere and militarily help the Chinese in its adjacent waters with all their conflicts with their neighbors, and China is not going to us. support militarily in if there is a conflict between NATO and Russia. “

As to why Moscow has not been able to form a new Eastern military pact, Bouzhinsky said that “unlike the Soviet Union, Russia is now not able to forge strong alliances, because if you create an alliance like the United States, you “I have to support it, let’s face it, you have to pay, Russia is not economically strong enough to pay for a strong alliance.”

He hailed the joint development by Russia and China of the missile early warning system as “a big step forward” and discussed future efforts in the Indian Ocean, the Arctic and beyond. “We are not allies”, he repeated, “but we are more than strategic partners”.

This article uses graphics provided to Newsweek by Statistical.