Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 105

RUSSIA AS THREAT

together in attempts to strategically undermine U.S.
influence in the Far Eastern region. A good example
of this is the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization in 2001—a political, economic, and military union that includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
Be that as it may, there are clear indications that
Russia does not count on the era of bilateral cooperation with China to endure, viewing its long-term future
relationship with Beijing as one of extreme competition
and conflict, not cooperation.
Among the dynamics at the root of the friction
is China’s sheer superiority of numbers. China’s
population of 1.32 billion people already dwarfs
Russia’s approximately 141 million. Barring some
unforeseen factor that increases Russian population in the Far East, this imbalance will increase
with time.
The difference in population mirrors the development and overall status of the two nations. Over the
past two decades, there has been a sharp reversal in the
standings of Russia and China as great powers; China
has been ascending in power and influence while Russia
has been in a general trajectory of decline.11 Like Russia,
however, progress in China has been complicated by a
Muslim separatist movement in its Uyghur Province of
the Xinjiang Region.12 While th