Suchnavalharassment is notuncommon. U.S.war-
shipsare frequentlynudged outof theperiphery of the
national watersof countriesaroundEurasiaeither by
Russianwarshipsor Iranianpatrolboats.Habitsof an
imperialnavyremaindeeplyembeddedin the U.S.’un-
derstandingof internationalwatersandsovereignty.U.S.
warshipsroutinely sailas closeas possibleto thesea
boundariesof states it wantsto testandprovoke.Incid-
entssuchas thistakeplaceon a regularbasisbetween
U.S.andRussianshipsfromthe BarentsSeato the Seaof
Okhotsk, whenU.S.warshipsmovecloseto Russian
waters. Therehaverecently beena numberof dangerous
incidentsas U.S.warshipsedgedcloserto Iranin the Gulf
of Oman.It is importantto notethatno Russianor
Iranian warshipsthreaten theterritorial watersof the
U.S.Eachof theseincidentstakesplacefar fromthe U.S.’
borders.
Whatis unusual about thisparticular incidentis that
it tookplacenotneara Russianborderbutnearthe
Chinese maritime border.TheU.S.andRussiadisagreed
aboutwherethe incident tookplace.TheU.S.saidit took
placein the Philippine Sea,whileRussiasaidit tookplace
in theEastChina Sea.Thesetwowatersof thePacific
Oceanare dividedby the contentiousDiaoyutai(China)
or Senkaku(Japan)islands,underwhichlie substantial
oil reserves.Thedisputeovertheseislandsandtheoil
reserves beganin 1969,afterthe UnitedNationsreleased
a reportof substantialoil andgasholdings in thearea.
Japan’s governmenthassaidthatChineseshipshave
beenenteringthe regionfor the pasttwomonths.Thisis
a regionof greatsensitivity,withthesesovereignty claims
remainingunresolved andwithU.S.warships thatare
basedin Japansailingintothemalmostto provokea
Chinese response.
Butit wasnot a Chinese shipthat wasinvolvedin this
incident.Theshipis Russian.
SANCTIONSANDMARKETS
A fewdays before thenearcollision, RussianPresident
VladimirPutin welcomedChinese President Xi Jinping
to theKremlin. Putinsaidof themeetingthatChina-
Russianrelations hadreachedan “unprecedented level”.
Thetwoworldleadersspenta fewdaysnegotiating a
seriesof tradeandenergydealsas wellas ensuring
harmonyon theirpoliticaloutlookandon theirmilitary
relationship.Thedealsamountedto morethan$20
billion.
Xi andPutinwentfromthe Kremlinto the St. Peters-
burgInternational EconomicForum,an annual business
meetingthathasbeenongoingsince1997.Initially, the
St. PetersburgForumhada convivialrelationship with
the World EconomicForum, evenholdinga jointmeet-
ingin 2007.Butnowthegeneralflavourof theSt.
Petersburg Forumis that it is a Russian(andincreasingly
Chinese)alternativeto the West-dominatedWorld Eco-
nomic Forumheldin Davos,Switzerland.Theplenary
speakersfor thisyear’sSt. PetersburgForum—Putin,Xi
andthe headsof governmentof Armenia, Bulgariaand
Slovakia—indicatea sharpdifference fromDavos.
The links between China and Russia have un-
doubtedlydeepened. Therearemany reasonsfor this.
First, therehas beena long-termpushby the U.S.andits
alliesto prodat the sovereignty of bothChinaandRus-
sia—whetherthroughtheexpansionof theNorthAt-
lanticTreatyOrganisation (NATO) towardsRussia’s
borders or by theU.S.’aggressive navalstrategyfromPRESIDENTSXIJINPINGANDVLADIMIRPUTIN
of ChinaandRussiaat the St. PetersburgInternational
EconomicForumonJune 7.In September2018,Chinaand RussiaconductedVostok2018,
one of the largest military exercises in theirhistory, which
includeda thirdof Russia’ssoldiers.