China and Russia are twins. Both are great Asian land empires; both are continental, multi-ethnic powers that expanded by pushing forward their borders rather than by crossing oceans; both have a deep tradition of autocracy that survives to this day; and both (more plausibly in China’s case) believe that their social contract, ideology and system of government is a universal one superior to all others.

In Entangled Empires, the German historians Sören Urbansky and Martin Wagner explore the convoluted story of Russo-Chinese relations from the moment in the mid-17th century that roving Cossack bands bumped up against Siberian tribes who owed fealty to Beijing up to the latest performative amity between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. Their conclusions, in a nutshell, are that the two nations’ association has never been defined by genuine friendship or ideological unity but rather by recurring patterns of dominance, asymmetric dependency and rivalry, dressed up in the language of brotherhood:

The prospect of a revanchist China reclaiming its lost lands lives in the minds of Russian nationalists

The prospect of a revanchist China reclaiming its lost lands lives in the minds of Russian nationalists

Florid proclamations of friendship are undoubtedly a façade behind which historic rivalries persist. While Russia primarily defined itself in relation to Europe, China has shaped itself in relation to Russia, Europe and Japan.

Florid proclamations of friendship are undoubtedly a façade behind which historic rivalries persist. While Russia primarily defined itself in relation to Europe, China has shaped itself in relation to Russia, Europe and Japan.

Since the late 20th century the leaders of China and Russia have been ‘united by a common enemy, namely the liberal world order’ – an alliance which, as luck would have it, also happens to furnish China with a cheap source of energy and raw materials, as well as a vast captive market for Chinese goods.

From the outset, relations between Asia’s two great imperial powers have been characterised by misunderstanding, arrogance and rivalry. In 1618 the Muscovite Tsar Mikhail Romanov put out tentative approaches towards his great southern neighbour, despatching the Cossack Ivashko Petlin of Tobolsk as Russia’s first emissary. Ming officials assumed that Petlin was a tribute-bringer from a hitherto unknown, pale-skinned, northern tribe, but, on learning that he bore no gifts, refused to allow him to........

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