Стр. 16 - V

Электронное приложение к журналу «Международная жизнь»
The biggest beneficiary of the end of the Cold War was not the U.S. or Europe but China. Freed
from the constraints of American leadership in a de facto anti-Soviet alliance, China has begun
to pursue an independent and increasingly assertive course, particularly in East Asia. The glob-
alization that was consequent on the end of the division of the world economy into two com-
peting camps has allowed China to position itself as a vital node in the international economic
grid and given Beijing the capacity to pursue such a course.
Today, U.S.-China relations are the most important relationship in East Asia, setting the tone for
the entire region.
In post-Soviet Russia too, capitalism exists without liberal democracy. But the Chinese experience
punctures the western myth of universality in a way the Russian experience does not because
China is an economic success story in way that the resource-dependent post-Soviet Russian econ-
omy cannot yet match. And more crucially, the core of Russian civilization lies west of the Urals
and in Orthodox Christianity as even Stalin recognized. A significant number of Russian intel-
lectuals would, I believe, not fundamentally disagree with the western historical narrative and at
least to some degree share western anxieties.
At the CICA Summit held in Shanghai in May, President Xi called for a new security concept
based on the principle that "it is for the people of Asia to run the affairs of Asia, solve the prob-
lems of Asia and uphold the security of Asia." Russia attended the CICA Summit, but who are
"people of Asia" that President Xi referred to? Was it a geographic definition or an ethnic and
cultural definition? This was not entirely clear. But the notion of "Asia for Asians" was eerily
reminiscent of an earlier concept of Asian "co-prosperity."
Only Russians can answer the many questions I have raised in this essay. But that is not a role
that any friend of Russia would want to see a great power to accept.