Western media and political institutions tend to describe China and Russia as something of an anti-Western bloc. More autocratic than Western governments — and more skeptical of open institutions and a free press — China and Russia often side with each other in international disputes against European and American interests.

While this characterization isn't entirely wrong, it overlooks the competition and suspicion between Moscow and Beijing. Today the Sino-Russian rivalry is back in the spotlight, thanks to a recent Chinese proposal for an anti-terror alliance in Central Asia, which does not include Russia — and raises the possibility that tension between the two countries will grow in the coming decades.

For centuries, the region had been a source of strategic insecurity for both China and Russia, but more so for China, which was regularly on the receiving end of raids from Central Asian tribes. By the mid-18th century, both empires' efforts to establish more control over the region — and also security for themselves — had borne fruit, as Russia brought Siberia under its control, and Qing-dynasty China established settlements in Xinjiang, which literally means "New Border Region." While this permanent presence managed to mitigate the threat they faced from local tribes, it also put the two Eurasian empires on a course of competition and rivalry with each other in Central Asia that has endured to the present day.