Progress and Prospects: Sino-Russian Strategic Coordination in Multilateral Mechanisms

Abstract As China and Russia face a complex international and neighborhood environment with many uncertainties and real security threats, it is of special significance to strengthen cooperation within the multilateral framework at the regional and higher level, including leading the establishment of new regional cooperation mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). China and Russia are interacting in global and regional frameworks such as the United Nations (U.N.), BRICS, G20, APEC, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, and jointly promoting cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union. All of these add more connotations and richer levels of cooperation in the Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era. The two countries share the same or similar views on many international and regional issues and have extensive common interests in security, economic and political fields, which is an important prerequisite and basis for multilateral cooperation. There are inevitable differences between the two major powers in goals on regional issues, yet those differences haven’t become substantial obstacles to multilateral cooperation. Looking forward, with the complex changes in the international situation, especially in the post-pandemic era when there will be significant adjustments in the economic, political and security landscape, close cooperation between China and Russia within multilateral mechanisms can play an increasingly important role in improving the global and regional governance system, maintaining multilateralism and steering the international landscape in a more just and rational direction.