New World Order Chronicles CCXXXV11
China, Russia: Interests Converge in Regional Blocs
.... Groupings where both countries are included, such as SCO or BRICS, enable Russia and China to forward their basic regional interests but also serve to counter U.S. economic, political and military power. With the crisis in the eurozone, instability in Ukraine and disputes in the South China Sea, Moscow and Beijing see both a need and an opportunity to erode U.S. influence by building on their respective strengths through cooperation.
The SCO is in the midst of another expansion to incorporate India and Pakistan after years of keeping the two at arm's length. India has been the most contentious addition because of Beijing's objections. China, however, has come to see including India as a way of drawing the country into a trading network centered on China while slowing the growth of U.S.-India defense cooperation. Russia wants to avoid losing the Indian market for Russian arms as well as to add India's 1.24 billion people to a regional grouping that does not include the United States.
The expanded SCO creates a space in which U.S. economic power is diluted and in which the two most populous nations in the world are included. It lays the rough framework for a future economic space that could theoretically rival the heft of the European Union or the United States, diminishing U.S. economic leverage, such as sanctions and dollar-denominated oil trade, to influence Russian or Chinese behavior.
China, Russia: Interests Converge in Regional Blocs
.... Groupings where both countries are included, such as SCO or BRICS, enable Russia and China to forward their basic regional interests but also serve to counter U.S. economic, political and military power. With the crisis in the eurozone, instability in Ukraine and disputes in the South China Sea, Moscow and Beijing see both a need and an opportunity to erode U.S. influence by building on their respective strengths through cooperation.
The SCO is in the midst of another expansion to incorporate India and Pakistan after years of keeping the two at arm's length. India has been the most contentious addition because of Beijing's objections. China, however, has come to see including India as a way of drawing the country into a trading network centered on China while slowing the growth of U.S.-India defense cooperation. Russia wants to avoid losing the Indian market for Russian arms as well as to add India's 1.24 billion people to a regional grouping that does not include the United States.
The expanded SCO creates a space in which U.S. economic power is diluted and in which the two most populous nations in the world are included. It lays the rough framework for a future economic space that could theoretically rival the heft of the European Union or the United States, diminishing U.S. economic leverage, such as sanctions and dollar-denominated oil trade, to influence Russian or Chinese behavior.
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