A joint conference organized by “Valdai” and ECNU was held between October 14 and October 15, 2024 in Moscow. The title was ”Stability and Potential: Russia and China on the 75th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations”. Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of the Valdai Club, summed up the results of the event.

Participants emphasized the intention to create a just multipolar world. Russia and China intend to work closely together in the framework of the strategic partnership. Chinese participants stressed that the partnership will withstand US pressure.

Russia and China regularly compare positions on international issues and summit decisions are implemented in various dialogue formats. The joint conference was part of this dialogue ecosystem.

The two countries differ in history, civilizational identity, and geopolitics. While China is integrated into the global economy, Russia is no longer. China has not crossed the line of a complete break with the West.

Russia and China can become one common pole in the modern world. At the moment both countries are different poles that complement each other. They are responsible for maintaining security in Eurasia and it is advisable to extend the values of the Russian-Chinese partnership to other countries, creating a new security system.

The security system in Greater Eurasia is based on sovereignty and equality and at the moment it’s at the beginning stages. Implementation steps may include building a common strategic culture, with the optimal format of cooperation between Russia and China being ”conjugation”. This does not imply unity or a merger.

Integration of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Belt and Road Initiative is a key element of the new Eurasian economic and security system. The Chinese side invites Russia to join the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and have proposed to establish a visa-free travel regime between China and Russia.

The third session of the conference was devoted to the theme “China, Russia and building a new type of multilateralism”. The participants noted the importance of the bilateral partnership for the development of BRICS, SCO and other international structures. Russia’s current BRICS presidency and China’s upcoming SCO presidency provide an opportunity to compare positions and improve the effectiveness of the Organization’s structures.

Attracting new members to BRICS contributes to the overall solidarity of non-Western countries. Various approaches to BRICS expansion were discussed, including the BRICS+ and Big BRICS formats. The strengthening of the role of national currencies among BRICS countries was discussed as well as the importance of developing sovereign digital financial instruments in the BRICS countries.

The fourth session of the conference was devoted to cooperation between Russia and China in the field of education, humanities and communications. 2024 and 2025 are declared mutual Years of Culture of Russia and China.

The task of developing a general epistemology for analyzing global processes and rejecting Western-centric narratives was also a subject of debate.

The conference was held in an atmosphere of sincere dialogue between experts from the two countries and close cooperation with our Chinese colleagues will continue.