The book offers different views about the role of Russia and China in the current world disorder. In these concluding remarks the coeditors stress, among others, the Russian opposition to the post-1989 global unipolarity of the US and its allies. On the other hand, China has increasingly started to assert a more pronounced and active role in the international political and economic proscenium, as clearly evidenced by the robust defence of global free trade President Xi Jinping offered in occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2017, marking his departure from Trump’s considerations aimed at rewriting the rules of global commerce.
Russia and China definitely possess distinct identities and forms of legitimacy. Their behaviour and commitment follow specific rationales stemming from different historical and cultural legacies. Nonetheless, they also share similarities, based in particular on powerful state traditions and the twentieth century experience of a socialist society inspired by the Marxist-Leninist model, even if differently interpreted and carried out over time.
However, their bilateral relations frequently suffered from ups and downs, either great cohesion or deep political crises and border skirmishes. Ultimately, a temporary marriage of convenience prevailed whenever closeness was diplomatically or politically emphasized. By contrast, a stable, long-term alliance was never achieved, most probably because both countries see their international position as those of great powers, being therefore unprepared to play the role of subordinates in bilateral relations.