| ID | 164679 |
| Title Proper | Russia in the South China Sea |
| Other Title Information | Balancing and Hedging |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Korolev, Alexander |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Although on the surface Russia remains distant and disengaged from the South China Sea (SCS) dispute, its comprehensive strategic partnership relations and large-scale arms deals with China and Vietnam—Russia's closest Asian allies but also major rival parties to the dispute—reveal that Moscow has strategic interests and goals that affect, directly or indirectly, the evolution of the dispute. Russia's ambivalent stance toward the dispute in the form of supporting both China and Vietnam is the manifestation of two different modes of great power behavior that unfold at different levels but happen to intersect in the SCS. One is systemic balancing, which is aimed at checking and blocking the strongest power in the system—the United States. The other is regional hedging, which combines engagement and containment and helps to avoid taking one side at the obvious expense of another. These two different modes of great power behavior coexist in Russia's behavior toward the SCS. Untangling the two levels sheds light on the essence and evolution of Russia's policies in the region, which have created a win-win situation, however imperfect, for China and Vietnam and have contributed to the formation of a more manageable negotiation environment. |
| `In' analytical Note |
Foreign Policy Analysis Vol.15, No.2; Apr 2019: p.263–282 |
| Journal Source | Foreign Policy Analysis 2019-04 15, 2 |
| Key Words | South China Sea ; Russia |