Summaries - Office of Research & Innovation
Research Summaries
Back Is the Sino-Russian Military Alliance Solidifying? Implications for U.S. and NATO Integrated Deterrence
Fiscal Year | 2024 |
Division | NPS Naval Research Program |
Department | National Security Affairs |
Investigator(s) | Aleksandar Matovski |
Sponsor | NPS Naval Research Program (Navy) |
Summary |
This study will examine the scope and strategic implications of the growing alignment of Russian and Chinese interests and power since 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It will also attempt to trace the contours of an updated deterrence framework, tailored to contain the aggression of these two increasingly insecure and assertive autocracies. The research will proceed along two parallel tracks. The first track will analyze the changing Russian outlooks on the partnership with China, particularly Moscow's ability to reconstitute its strategic defense-industrial base with Chinese aid, as well as its willingness to: (1) provide Beijing with key military technologies and resources; (2) transform the Russian economy to serve as an interdiction-free supply of strategic resources to China. This segment will also assess the potential scope of Moscow's emerging nuclear coercion tactics, including undermining the arms control framework and the deliberate proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, delivery systems and associated capabilities, as well as the strategic ramifications of the Russian security cooperation with Iran and North Korea. The second research track will examine China's perspectives on deepening the strategic partnership with Russia, focusing on Chinese views on: (1) the benefits and limits of the alignment; (2) the factors that could lead China to provide direct military assistance to Russia's war effort in Ukraine; (3) Chinese thinking on stabilizing the strategic competition with United States. This research will be conducted through a team effort of subject-matter experts on Russian, Chinese and NATO strategic doctrines, capabilities, and behavior. The researchers will perform rigorous analyses of the Russian and Chinese literatures, complementing this information through discussions with subject-matter experts in Washington DC, USSTRATCOM, INDOPACOM, NATO Headquarters, SHAPE Headquarters, and in key European and Asian allies. |
Keywords | China, Russia, NATO, Nuclear Weapons, Trilateral Strategic Competition, Integrated deterrence policy, European allies |
Publications | Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal |
Data | Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal |