China-Russia Photo: VCG

Russia's latest updated national security strategy shows that the US attempt to split China-Russia ties has failed again, and this is a clear signal sent by Moscow to the world that it still considers the main threat is from the West rather than the East. 

Chinese experts said the Russian leadership with strategic wisdom has found the influence and strength of the West is declining and that is why it is prioritizing ties with non-Western major powers like China and India.

The National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation is a strategic document outlining the means by which citizens, society and the state are to be protected against external and internal threats in every sphere of national life. The first such document was created in 1997, and it has been continually updated to account for new developments, said Sputnik News.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the updated Russian National Security Strategy, with the corresponding decree published on the state portal of legal information on Saturday, according to Sputnik News.

Ma Yongbao, an expert on Russian studies and a senior research fellow at the Global Governance Institution think tank, told the Global Times on Sunday that compared to the first one in 1997, the new document has removed some content about building a partnership with the US and having win-win cooperation with the EU. "This shows that the contradictions between Russia and the West are serious and are hard to solve." 

"Western media or observers who expect that one meeting between the presidents of the US and Russia can reset bilateral ties and even split the China-Russia partnership are too na?ve. They have no idea what has happened with Russia-US relations in the past 30 years. It's been a series of tragedies," Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

Russia has abandoned any expectation of fundamentally fixing and improving ties with the US and the EU, and what the US has done to Russia in the past decades has disappointed and offended Moscow over and over again, analysts said.

Washington has set a course for abandoning its arms control commitments, the new edition of Russia's national security strategy says. "The United States is pursuing a consistent policy of abandoning international obligations in the field of arms control against the backdrop of developing the potential for the global missile defense system," reads the document, TASS reported.

It noted that the planned deployment of US intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region posed a threat to strategic stability and international security.

Russia's deep concern over the US is not just in the field of security, but also in economy. The document deems the reduction in the use of the dollar in Russia's foreign trade as one of the means to securing the country's economic security.

Ma said the US' economic sanctions against Russia have not been removed whether in Donald Trump's term or current President Joe Biden's term, adding that the Federal Reserve's current policy could devalue the US dollar, so it is reasonable for Russia to set an example for the world on how to prevent a potential global financial risk caused by the irresponsible US policies.

Significantly, the updated National Security Strategy document includes the expansion of strategic cooperation with China and India in the list of Russian foreign policy priorities, with a view to creating mechanisms to ensuring regional security and stability on a non-aligned basis in the Asia-Pacific region, Sputnik News reported.

Chinese experts said China and Russia are both major nuclear-armed powers and permanent members of the UN Security Council, who have unique influence and responsibilities to safeguard world order, peace, improve fairness for the international community and balance the US hegemony.

The two countries share common interests in many fields and are on the receiving end of similar strategic pressures from the West, so it is to be expected that Russia will prioritize its ties with China, said analysts. They said that if China or Russia, especially Russia, has an all-out confrontation with the West one day, the two major powers can at least trust and rely on each other to avoid being totally isolated, a kind of insurance that Russia cannot get from elsewhere.