HONG KONG — Although most world attention during the August Russia-Georgia crisis was on the reactions of the United States and Europe, China's response also made headlines. With China and Russia enjoying a strategic partnership, and sharing a distaste for U.S. "hegemony," Chinese support for Russia's action might have been expected.
But at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (China, Russia and four Central Asian Republics) in August, China's position on Moscow's action in Georgia was cool. This was explained by pointing to China's consistent opposition to secessionist movements, given its various problems with Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.
Another reason for China's position likely lies in its long-standing nervousness over Russian intentions in Central Asia, including in Russia's Far East, near China's borders. In the 17th and 18th centuries — around the same time as the Qing dynasty was campaigning to extend its empire westward, largely defining the boundaries of today's China in the process — the Russian empire was expanding east. The two met in various places, including around what is now the border between China's northeast and Siberia, where in 1689 they signed a landmark border treaty.