EVENTS

Russia and China have transformed their ties from Cold War confrontations of the 1960s to a partnership ‘without limits’ in the 21^st century. How do we characterize the current relationships between the two countries? Sceptics call it an ‘axis of convenience’ rather than a natural evolution of ties based on mutual trust and goodwill. A large number of scholars from Russia and China, however, stress on common interests and shared views on a multipolar world order. They argue that the US’ policy of unilateralism, pursued vigorously in the last three decades, have brought them together. An extension of this argument holds that a new ‘alliance’ or a ‘semi-alliance’ is emerging between the two countries. Among these diverse perspectives, how do we make sense of Russia-China partnership? What are the levels of economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries? And finally, how do they cooperate in multilateral organisations, especially the SCO? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this presentation.

About the Speaker

Rajan Kumar teaches in School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. His areas of interest include: International Politics, Russia and Central Asia, India's Foreign Policy, and Research Methods. His last book (co-authored) 'Re-emerging Russia: Structures, Institutions and Processes' was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017. His latest book (co-edited) 'Locating BRICS in the Global Order: Perspectives from the Global South' is being published by Routledge, London in 2022. He writes regularly for national and international journals. His columns appear regularly in Financial Express and other newspapers. He is a regular commentator on national and international media channels.

About the Chair

Vijay K Nambiar joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1967. He studied Chinese in Hong Kong, and served in China from 1970-72 and returned to South Block and Udyog Bhavan until 1976. He then served as First Secretary in Tito's Yugoslavia. He was posted from 1979 to 1982 in the Indian Mission at the United Nations (UN) in New York and served in Delhi during the 1983 NAM Summit and after. From 1985 to 1987, he was India's Ambassador in Algeria. He returned to Delhi as Joint Secretary East Asia in the MEA in 1987 and helped prepare for Rajiv Gandhi's historic visit to China in 1988. Subsequently, he served as India's Ambassador/ High Commissioner in Afghanistan (1990-1992), Malaysia (1993-1996), China (1996-2000), Pakistan (2000-2001) and Permanent Representative to the UN in New York (2002-2004). Post-retirement, he served as Deputy National Security Adviser of India (2004-2006). He was then deputed by the Government of India to serve in the United Nations Secretariat as Under Secretary-General, Special Adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan (2006-2007), then as Chef de Cabinet to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2007-2012) and later as Adviser on Myanmar (2012-2016).

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