Multipolarity as envisioned by Russia and China isn’t always going to be hugs and kisses among its participants, not even between Russia and China. From Andrew Korybko at korybko.substack.com:
So long as Russia remains committed to midwifing complex multipolarity together with India, and the argument in favor of continuing this policy is that it would give Russia more strategic autonomy than in a restored Sino-US bi-multipolar system, then it mustn’t change its policy towards India’s conflicts.
President Putin’s speech on Friday at the Foreign Ministry touched upon a lot of topics but only his ceasefire proposal was widely reported upon outside of Russia. One of the aspects that was ignored concerns his proposed Eurasian security system that’ll involve Russia’s Union State with Belarus, the CSTO, the Eurasian Economic Union, the CIS, and the SCO. It’s a noble and visionary initiative but it must respect India’s national interests otherwise it risks being counterproductive to Russia’s multipolar goals.
The reason why there are worries that it might not is because President Putin mentioned that “the Russian proposal is not contradictory, but rather complements and aligns with the basic principles of the Chinese global security initiative”, which he discussed with President Xi during his recent trip to Beijing. That’s not a problem, and it would be great if they cooperated in peacefully resolving international conflicts and sustainably preventing future ones, unless Russia’s stance towards India’s conflicts changes.
At present, Russia fully supports its special and privileged strategic partner’s position towards its territorial disputes with China and Pakistan, which is one of the few differences between Moscow and Beijing but is responsibly managed in order to not ruin their cooperation on other issues. That might change, however, as Russia’s pro-BRI policymaking faction – which readers can learn more about here, here, and here – rapidly grows in influence.
Der Friedensstifter 