Russia and China Place Eurasia at the Heart of the Post-Pandemic World Order

Abstract As the pandemic has wreaked havoc on global health and economy, it has also accelerated trends in international politics. These include the decline of the US’ status as the global hegemon and the emergence of a multipolar world, with new players seeking a role in shaping world affairs. China’s economic successes have placed it in the vanguard of the newly emerging players on the world stage, in tandem with Russia. US hostility to both has promoted closer relations between them, having been earlier brought together by ties in the areas of energy, trade and defence. They have now become partners in placing Eurasia at the centre of their strategic interests by linking Putin’s ‘Greater Eurasian Partnership’ with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Through a series of carefully crafted diplomatic initiatives, Russia and China are bringing other nations – Iran, Turkey, the Arab Gulf states, Afghanistan and Pakistan – into the Eurasian embrace on the basis of logistical, energy and digital connectivity, thus shaping the nascent stage of a new world order.