Russia in Global Affairs

By selling and sending weapons to Taiwan and patting on the shoulders of the regime in Taipei, the White House continues to play with its “strategic ambiguity” when it still claims that the US “does not support Taiwan’s independence”. China seems to have exhausted its patience in continuing to play the game with the US by laying its cards clear on the table.

Russia will need to demonstrate clearly where New Delhi fits into the Russian grand strategy towards the East and how Moscow aims to implement its grand strategy towards the broader Asia-Pacific.

US President Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan this week was his first in East Asia since taking office. The importance of this trip is undeniable. Washington is working hard to bring together what is commonly called ‘the collective West’.

The main objective for the Shinzo Abe administration’s active engagement in supporting the involvement of Japanese companies in the development of the Russian Far East is to create favourable environment for resolution of the territorial issue and conclusion of a peace treaty with Russia. Japan–Russia cooperation in the Russian Far East is part of Abe’s 8-point cooperation plan with Moscow.

The U.S.-China relationship and the economic and security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific are riddled with contradictions that raise questions about both the Chinese and American policies. How this drama plays out will have no small impact on a global and regional system in transition looking out to 2025.

The Far East development strategy should focus on building an area of innovative resource-based economy. The production of innovative resource-intensive goods and services with a focus on the growing Asian markets running low on natural resources could be an attractive niche for the Russian Far East to take and succeed in.

The Far East as a meeting point of three key regions?Eurasia, Pacific Asia, and the Arctic?opens up prospects for overcoming a false dilemma of traditional division into continental and maritime states. Russia’s dual geopolitical nature allows it to move along both tracks at the same time.

Facing its ‘most dynamic and formidable competitor in modern history’, Washington increasingly does away with hopeful thinking and seeks new approaches towards Asia. It raised the concept of the Indo-Pacific region. But what strategy is behind this buzzword? And what does it mean for Asia?

Tendencies will continue—a geopolitical shift towards Eurasia and the Asia Pacific Region; symbolic ‘sovereignization’ of Russia and its further distancing from the U.S. and Europe; and the erosion of a foreign policy consensus. The fourth edition of Putin’s foreign policy will most likely differ significantly from the previous three.