Deputy Chairman of Huawei Guo Ping shakes hands with Alexei Kornya, president of Russia's MTS mobile network operator, at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 5, 2019, as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping look on.

Deputy Chairman of Huawei Guo Ping shakes hands with Alexei Kornya, president of Russia's MTS mobile network operator, at the Kremlin in Moscow on June 5, 2019, as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping look on. AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool

China, Russia Deepen Technological Ties

With joint dialogues, incubators, and technology parks, Beijing and Moscow are seeking to overcome deficiencies and compete with the United States.

China and Russia are deepening and expanding their ties — economic, military, technological — as external pressures limit their access to overseas markets and technology. Both countries hope the collaboration will help to compensate for domestic deficiencies and to compete successfully with the United States in today’s critical technologies.  

This bilateral relationship, currently celebrating its 70th anniversary, has ebbed and flowed in the decades since the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China opened diplomatic relations. This relationship, now upgraded to and characterized as a “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era,” is continuing to evolve amid today’s great power rivalry. 

For Moscow, certain Chinese products, services and experience may be the lifeline for its industry, government, and military need to wean themselves from high-tech Western imports. 

For Beijing, Russia’s skilled engineers and mathematicians are a valuable resource for tech and defense industry giants that are hungry for talent and faced with increasingly unfavorable conditions in the United States and Europe. And its military hopes to draw on Russian proficiency in designing advanced weapons and experience using emerging capabilities on today’s battlefields.

Consequently, the Sino-Russian strategic partnership has increasingly concentrated on technology and innovation. In the wake of Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow in May 2015, the Chinese and Russian governments have signed a series of agreements to develop new realms of cooperation. In June 2016, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology and Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development signed the “Memorandum of Understanding on Launching Cooperation in the Domain of Innovation.” The notion of these nations as linked in a “science and technology cooperation partnership for shared innovation” has been elevated as a major pillars of this relationship.

To some degree, this designation has been rhetorical and symbolic, but it has also corresponded with greater substance. Over time, the partnership has become more mature and institutionalized. This policy support for collaboration in innovation has manifested in bilateral dialogues and exchanges, the development of industrial science and technology parks, and the expansion of academic cooperation between the Russian and Chinese Academies of Sciences. The countries have even founded a joint incubator aimed at young hi-tech entrepreneurs and business communities.

As China’s ambassador to Russia said last year, “Strengthening collaboration, promoting mutual investment, actively implementing promising innovation projects, expanding direct links between the scientific, business and financial communities of the two countries is particularly important today.” China seems eager to take this relationship even further by proposing to the Russian Academy of Sciences the creation of permanent S&T and R&D centers in Russia, where scientists from the two countries would hold meetings and jointly develop technologies.

The dynamics in play are reflected in the ongoing feud between the United States and China over Huawei. In response to official suspicion and hostility from Western governments, the mobile-computing giant has expanded its engagement with the Russian Federation. The company is enlarging its R&D centers and has begun recruiting to hire a thousand Russian specialists within five years. It has also expanded 5G tests and pilot programs in Russia.

AI is also emerging as a new priority in technological cooperation. For instance, the countries are seeking to expand the sharing of big data. In September, both countries signed a document establishing a hi-tech accelerator working with neural networks that would facilitate the entry of new products to China’s rapidly growing IT market. Around that same time, the head of the state-owned Russian Venture Company touted AI’s potential at a Shanghai investment forum, saying that “artificial intelligence seems to be promising, given the potential of the Chinese market, the results of cooperation, and the accumulated scientific potential of Russia.”

But obstacles remain. For instance, Russia initially had reservations about China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which has been closely linked to scientific and technological collaboration. China’s track record on IP theft may also be a concern. Perhaps Moscow, which has long watched China reverse-engineer its defense technologies, is merely resigned. But it is notable that the Chinese government is publicizing promises to enforce IP protection vis-à-vis their Russian counterparts, implying that a détente may have been reached. 

At this point, Russia seems to be more concerned about China stealing its best and brightest scientists. This month, the head of the Russian Academy of Sciences expressed concern that Beijing has begun to woo Russian STEM talent with better pay and work conditions, a sentiment that seems to run counter to so many joint S&T initiatives outlined earlier. And yet both China and Russia are grappling with the fact that young, promising scientists often seem to  prefer working in the United States. 

There are also fundamental asymmetries in this bilateral relationship that may limit or at least complicate cooperation.  Russia lacks tech giants, such as China's Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei, that are starting to expand globally, including into the Russian market, and so Beijing is emerging as the dominant player. 

Nonetheless, this technological partnership could prove consequential for Chinese and Russian ambitions to promote and sustain indigenous innovation. The United States should track the trajectory of China-Russia tech collaborations to mitigate the risks of technological surprise and ensure early warning of future developments. 

This article previews the findings of a report to be released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute later this fall that will offer a more detailed assessment of certain elements of Sino-Russian high-tech cooperation.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.