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The acquisition of clandestine human sources – or agents – inside Russia and China likely remains the key priority for Western HUMINT agencies, and yet their ability to do this safely is quickly waning. This paper considers the utility of cyberspace for espionage recruitment in these two hard target states, and assesses its value as a potential solution to emerging surveillance threats. With the aid of history, this paper proposes that hard target espionage is fundamentally afflicted by a tradecraft paradox, one that will severely curtail the utility of cyberspace to agent recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does power shape foreign policy attitudes? Drawing on advances in psychological research on power, I argue that the sense of relative state power explains foreign policy hawkishness. The intuitive sense that "our state" is stronger than "your state" activates militant internationalism, an orientation centered on the efficacy of force and deterrence to achieve state aims. Beyond general orientation towards the world, this sense of power explains discrete attitudes towards pressing security issues, from threat perception in the South China Sea to nuclear weapons use against Iran. Five original surveys across the US, China, and Russia, as well as an experiment fielded on the US public, lend support to these claims. The psychological effects of state power overshadow dispositional traits common in behavioral IR, like individuals' personalities and moral proclivities. More surprisingly, power changes individuals, making hawks of even the most dovish. Taken together, the paper presents a "first image reversed" challenge to standard bottom-up accounts of foreign policy opinion and offers unique explanatory leverage in a potential era of US decline, China's rise, and Russian belligerence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, the rapid evolution of digital platform technology has triggered significant shifts in competition law. Many have interpreted China's recent moves as signaling a broader crackdown on private entrepreneurship. In Russia, even before the invasion of Ukraine, government policy became increasingly restrictive toward foreign internet platforms. This paper analyzes the development and enforcement of competition law in Russia and China. We show that both technologically driven changes in the ability of digital platform firms to exercise market power and changes in the external political environment affect the relative strength and coalitions of interested bureaucratic actors and influence policy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terms of cataloged debris produced, the anti-satellite test carried out by Russia, in November 2021, at an altitude of about 480 km, leading to the destruction of the old satellite Cosmos 1408, was the second worst to date and represented the third worst fragmentation in orbit. It generated more than 1/4 of the cataloged debris produced over 55 years by all such tests and almost twice as many as were produced by all previous Soviet tests. After placing this event in its historical context, this paper analyzes in detail how the evolution of the Cosmos 1408 debris cloud affected the environment below 600 km in the first seven months, focusing on the two operational space stations and the Starlink large constellation of satellites. During the first six months following the test, the Cosmos 1408 cloud of fragments nearly doubled the average flux of cataloged objects on the International Space Station and increased by about 3/4 that on China's Tiangong. In the same period, the Starlink large constellation saw an average increase in the flux of cataloged objects of about 20%. Some orbital planes, the "counter-rotating" ones with respect to the Cosmos 1408 debris cloud, were more affected than others, and the affected planes gradually changed over time, due to the differential precession of cloud and constellation nodes. However, being the Starlink constellation 70 km higher up, the flux of Cosmos 1408 cataloged debris steadily decreased over the period analyzed, due to the cloud orbital decay, reducing to just over a quarter of its extrapolated initial value after seven months. • A review of ASAT tests as a source of orbital debris was presented. • The impact of the Cosmos 1408 destruction was put into context. • The cataloged debris flux increase on space stations was computed and discussed. • The debris flux increase and evolution on Starlink orbit planes was analyzed. • A moratorium on this type of ASAT tests was recommended, including low LEO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the potential of the forest sector in China and Russia over the past decade to identify the main trends and prospects for developing international timber business between the countries. The research showed that further development of foreign economic cooperation between the countries requires reindustrialization of the Russian forest industry sector in processing and manufacturing wood products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia is China's main log supplier and has implemented a series of log export control policies. The implementation of Russia's export control policy has inevitably had an impact on China's timber processing industry. This paper uses breakpoint regression to analyse the impact of the increase in the import price of logs under the Russian log export control policy on the market price of timber products in China. The results show that under the control policy, the increase in log import prices had a significant positive impact on the timber product market when April 2008, January 2010 and January 2019 were the breakpoints. Due to the lag effects in price transmission, the impact on China's timber product market was not reflected when July 2007 and January 2018 were the breakpoints. Based on the research conclusions, this paper puts forward some suggestions from the perspective of China's log supply security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been found that people with disabilities remain at the margin as far as the different aspects of their lives are concerned. This paper tests the hypothesis that disability leads to lower quality of life among older adults in low and middle-income countries. The data from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) was used in this study which was conducted in Ghana, China, India, Russia, South Africa and Mexico. The disability scores have been made utilising Item Response Theory, Partial Credit Model and are centered on eight functioning and health areas. Bivariate analysis, binary logistic regression and pooled regression analysis have been used to fulfil the objectives of the paper. The findings reveal that disability acts as a hindrance in attaining a high quality of life (HQOL) amongst the older adults in the above mentioned low and middle-income countries. The older adults with disability are as much as 60% less likely to enjoy an HQOL with respect to the older adults without disability. Better socio-economic development like improved health care for disabled older adults with disability enhanced living standards for both abled and disabled, efficient pension schemes for older adults with disability and effective social service schemes would be very much essential to improve overall QOL among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Tea Road (Wanli chadao) is a 13,000 km trade route that for two centuries connected Qing China and Tsarist Russia. It has been identified in recent years as an important category of China's route heritage. The rediscovery of the Great Tea Road, and other Chinese route heritage, is being framed in a 'mobility narrative', that is, a narrative that describes how mobility and exchange over space and time contribute to the formation of the Chinese nation or Zhonghua minzu. Since 2013 the Great Tea Road has been incorporated into the 'authorised mobility narrative' of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and in particular to the BRI agreement linking China, Mongolia and Russia. In 2019 the Great Tea Road was placed on the China list for World Heritage application. This paper examines the rise of the Great Tea Road in contemporary China and describes the various actors that play a formative role in developing the narratives and policies associated with such route heritage. It finds that the Chinese combination of 'mobility narrative' and 'heritage bureaucracy' provides a discursive and institutional frame that is able to mobilise significant resources in the pursuit of cultural policy and heritage diplomacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thawing permafrost has affected the structural integrity of buried warm pipelines in cold regions and poses an ongoing threat in the context of climate change. Therefore, characterizing variation in the engineering properties of pipeline foundation permafrost and its effect on the mechanical behavior of pipeline is important. In this paper, the ground temperature distributions around a buried warm pipeline and mechanical response of the pipeline to differential thaw settlement of foundation permafrost are investigated using thermal–mechanical sequential coupling simulation, based on the observational data collected from a selected monitoring site along the China-Russia crude oil pipelines in northeastern China. The results indicate that the thaw-induced settlement of pipeline foundation permafrost develops quickly with the formation and expansion of the thaw bulb in the first 10 years, and then increases slowly when the thaw bulb extends to the weathered granite. Differential thaw settlement will cause a significant change in the deformation and stress of the pipeline near the interface of strong and weak thaw settlement zones. When the length ratio of strong and weak thaw settlement zones is 1, the maximum stress of the pipeline with a thickness of 16 mm is approximately 45% of the allowable stress of X65 steel, and the pipeline remains safe for 30 years. However, the potential failure of the pipeline should be considered due to the continued ground thawing and warming and pipe material aging. Forthcoming research on this topic is needed to evaluate more carefully the structural integrity of buried pipelines in cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and Russia have different interests in the Arctic but are forced to look for possible ways of cooperation in energy projects in the current external conditions. This changes the priorities of both countries and, accordingly, transforms the risks. Objectives of the research: to build an algorithm for identifying anthropogenic environmental risks in the context of two major players economic activities in the Arctic region: the Russian Federation and China. In the paper, we formulated an algorithm of environmental risk identification. We identified environmental hazards from the main parameter—the type of economic activity for the extraction of energy resources, premises, and factors for the occurrence of environmental hazards and compiled criteria for risk selection. Methods used: complex analysis (mixed method research): empirical and comparative methods, methods of expert assessments, the method of inductive statistics (inferential statistics) to compare the perception of risk at the level of different groups. Results: the algorithm has been formed for determining risks in the changed external conditions. Major anthropogenic environmental risks are identified from the perspective of the main players in the Arctic—Russia and China, which can help to make the necessary decisions on time and partially prevent environmental degradation. This makes it possible to identify the risks associated with conducting economic activities for the extraction of energy resources in the Arctic region. Therefore, this study contributes to a more accurate identification of anthropogenic environmental risks in the Arctic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, from a realist-constructivist perspective, compares the motivations, diplomatic polices and actions of China and Russia as parties that are economically, politically or militarily involved in addressing the Syria's crisis. By drawing on the taxonomy of power, I argue that China and Russia respectively demonstrate structural and compulsory power when dealing with Syrian issue. They also cooperate with each other and maintain strategic partnership by virtue of institutional power and productive power, but the results are different. I also argue that the relations between China and Russia is influenced by both material power and identity structure. Finally, I conclude that as China and Russia continue developing their strategic relations and coordinating stances over regional and international issues, in the realm of diplomacy they are overwhelmingly on their own. Hopefully, as tension wanes and reconstruction starts in full swing, we can expect more cooperation, rather than confrontations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable and well positioned human sources are essential for the US and its allies in an era of declining relations and rising tensions with China and Russia. The recruitment and handling of spies is essential if the US and its allies are to cool relations carefully, enact sound policy and curb the relentless intelligence operations of their adversaries. However, despite the superficially more open borders of China and Russia, technological advances have made the threat of street surveillance to the recruitment and handling of agents today as acute as it was in Cold War "denied area" states. This paper assesses the degree of street surveillance in contemporary Russia and China – including the impact of biometrics and online data history on the defensibility of cover and the severity of advanced CCTV networks – and the solutions intelligence agencies might adopt to address these problems. Despite the possibilities cyberspace offers espionage – for instance, by reducing the need for face to face meetings between intelligence officers and agents – the paper establishes the limitations of technological answers and argues that Western intelligence officers are entering a new era of Moscow and Beijing Rules in which they are more essential than ever and yet need to operate with absolute caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) intersect and overlap in Central Asia at the heart of Eurasia. Whereas the literature has commonly focused on the economic aspects of these major regional policy initiatives, efforts to create a common Eurasian higher education space through these regionalisms have barely been studied. In response, this paper compares the development of Russian and Chinese led visions for Eurasian higher education regionalism in Central Asia and the extent to which these constructions overlap. The paper also sheds lights on the perspectives of Central Asian states by investigating how these countries are approaching these efforts to construct a Eurasian higher education region. The conceptual framework brings together higher education regionalism with overlapping regionalism and takes a policy-oriented methodological approach. The paper introduces the new term of "points of correspondence" based on language used in both Russian and Chinese policy discourse to explain how constructions of a Eurasian higher education region can overlap without duplicating or flowing into each other. "Points of correspondence" emphasizes neither competition nor collaboration but rather the ongoing pursuit to find ideas and policy tools that best fit one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Mongolia's attempts at balancing its relations with China and Russia and the dilemmas it faces as China's influence grows in the wake of its "Belt and Road Initiative". Mongolia has embraced China's connectivity projects and a new form of trilateralism, even though Mongolia was not included in the initial five economic corridors proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013. Mongolian concerns over geo-strategic isolation led to a renewed effort to embrace its two big neighbors, resulting in the proposal of the trilateral "Economic Corridor" in 2016, followed by further trilateral summits. The paper thus seeks to answer the puzzle how Mongolia's self-perception as a geopolitical bridgehead state can be reconciled with the partially diverging interests of its two neighbors. Drawing on interviews with Mongolian experts and officials as well as qualitative document analysis, the paper adds empirical nuance to the debate about Sino-Russian interaction in Eurasia, but also to the understudied dimension of the agency of the "in-between countries" in their shared neighborhood. It argues that the spectrum ranging from competition to accommodation between China and Russia is further complicated by the choices and policy responses of actors "in between", like Mongolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russia is one of the founding members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and, next to China, one of its leaders. While being an active and engaging member of the organization, Russia's strategy towards SCO remains puzzling. Initially, it sought a pragmatic cooperation with China on solving numerous security issues that plagued post-Soviet Central Asia. However, Russia gradually developed alternative regional bodies (viz. Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)) where it is a supreme leader, and which became its preferred tools for interacting with other states in the post-Soviet space. This impacted the place and role of the SCO in Russia's regional and global strategies. Moreover, Russia's growing power asymmetry vis-à-vis China added an additional dimension to its consideration of SCO. Hence, Moscow promoted several policies, especially the enlargement, which seemed to undercut SCO's development. This paper relies on a theoretical framework of the so-called theory of cooperative hegemony, especially the application of one of its main analytical variables – the commitment capacity – to examine Russia's policy towards SCO. Apart from considerable secondary sources, the article draws upon six semi-structured expert interviews, and a number of primary documents including but not limited to foreign policy concepts, declarations, and charters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ostensibly, Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential elections should have placed United States international policy back on a familiar path. However, despite the prevalence of a highly traditional vision of US foreign policy, the Biden administration has maintained significant continuities with the previous administration, as reflected in the policy towards China and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. In part, this is due to the constraints produced by the deep divisions that exist at domestic level. This paper aims to unravel the fundamental elements of Biden's foreign policy, focusing on possible ideological and doctrinal elements, strategic priorities, and any continuities and changes relative to his predecessor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authoritarian leaders rely on regional leaders for both political support and the fulfillment of their policy objectives. In addition, top leaders face trade-offs between following established rules for managing bureaucratic officials' careers and exercising a free hand in choosing regional officials. This paper compares patterns of appointment of regional officials in Russia and China before and after 2012. In recent years, the leaders of both countries have centralized and personalized state power. We hypothesize that these changes have altered policies for managing the appointments of regional leaders in such a way as to increase their dependence on the central authorities and reduce their autonomy to create their own networks at the regional level. We analyze a comprehensive original set of biographical data on all top regional officials from 2003 through 2019 in China and from 2000 through 2019 in Russia. We discern clear differences between the pre- and post-2012 period for China and less marked differences for pre- and post-2012 Russia. Turnover of regional officials has become more frequent in both systems; average tenure in office has fallen; and the share of "outsiders" has risen. However, the corps of regional officials has not been rejuvenated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soft power literature has indicated that American soft power use has been declining while Russian and Chinese soft power use has been increasing. Until now, the only way scholars could test such claims was to compare these countries' soft power rankings. This paper uses a new soft power dataset that can evaluate countries' soft power use. Using this dataset, this paper tests three hypothesis regarding China's, Russia's and the US' soft power use for the time-period of 1995–2015. The findings indicate that surprisingly the US is still using more soft power than Russia and China. The data analysis also reveals that the US is leading in economic soft power actions over China and in military soft power actions over Russia as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sino–Russian Arctic energy cooperation is a successful example based on the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. In order to analyze the impact of Sino–Russian oil and gas resources cooperation in the Arctic on China's energy security, this paper selects 11 influencing factors such as energy self-sufficiency rate and uses the energy security index method to evaluate the three dimensions of energy supply, demand, and environmental security. The assessment results show that China's energy security is mainly affected by the over concentration of energy import sources. At the same time, energy demand and environmental security will also have an important impact on China's energy security. However, relative to energy demand, environmental security factors such as the proportion of clean energy consumption and channel safety factor have a greater impact on China's energy security. After China and Russia strengthen cooperation in oil and gas resources in the Arctic, China's energy security index is expected to increase from 0.4419 in 2020 to 0.5412 in 2025. Therefore, China can use technology, funds, scientific research, and other support to carry out all-round cooperation with Russia in the Arctic waterway, oil and gas exploration and development, and Arctic scientific research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though a continued increase in life expectancy is a significant public health achievement, keeping older adults active and maintaining their well-being is challenging. Active aging requires physical health, mental health, functional independence, economic stability, social participation, and spiritual identification. Among all these factors, social cohesion has significant importance, but there is a dearth of studies focusing on older adults' social cohesion. Thus, the present study focuses on the level of social cohesion among older adults and its variation among the different economic classes. This article uses data from the Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) conducted in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa during 2007–10. Social cohesion scores have been constructed using Item Response Theory Partial Credit Model. Also, bivariate analysis, concentration curves, concentration indices, and multivariate regressions have been used for the analysis presented in this paper. This study confirms the strong predictive power of age, wealth, education, and working status of older adults on their social cohesion across the countries. Higher social non-cohesion is found among the economically poor older adults in Mexico, Russia, India, and China. In contrast, it is just opposite in the case of older adults in South Africa. Governments should develop policies to foster a society with a high level of social inclusion, social capital, and social diversity, to achieve further advancement in social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its independence, Kazakhstan has adopted a multi-vectorism approach to balance between various great powers, especially between Russia and China. Despite extensive theorisation of such foreign policy, scholarly research has rarely investigated the topic beyond diplomatic power dynamics. Based on a systematic search of China's joint projects in Kazakhstan in the past 30 years, this paper illuminates several unexpected developmental intricacies based on Kazakhstan's multi-vectorism, its geo-strategic location, the availability of oil-driven sovereign wealth funds, and the public pressure for more responsible industrial policies: (1) China's ambition to connect to the West has unintentionally amplified Kazakhstan's multi-vector bargaining power; (2) Kazakhstan's industrial policies, supported by various financial tools backed by its oil-driven sovereign wealth funds, are integral to its multi-sector economic development and diversification of exports to include more high-value intermediate and consumer goods; and (3) shown via a case study on Kazakhstan's agricultural development, initial state-level negotiation and sub-national implementation, coupled with a mix of Sinophobic and Sinophilic sentiments, have led to a nuanced path of economic diversification. Given the authoritarian legacy in both China and Kazakhstan, empirical research to compare industry-specific development variations would be enlightening for developing economies to design optimal paths to leverage China's rising dream and capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global economy appears the trend of anti-globalization under the influence of COVID-19. Based on the input-output table of lead database from 2006 to 2020, this paper divides the factors that affect the development of financial industry in China, the United States and Russia into six aspects: price, intermediate input, household consumption, government consumption, export and import. ADGA-BP neural network model is proposed in this paper, which is based on six aspects of price, intermediate input, consumer, government consumption, export and import. The intermediate input is decomposed from the perspective of industrial structure to study the interrelationship between financial industry and other industries in the three countries. The results show that the intermediate input is the main factor in the development of financial industry in the three countries, but the source industries of the intermediate input are not the same; the two factors of household consumption and price are closely related to the development of financial industry in the three countries, and they all play a role in promoting China, while the relationship between household consumption and the United States and between price and Russia is reverse; Government consumption only has a significant impact on Russia; from the perspective of mutual influence, the mutual investment between the financial industry of China and the United States is relatively large, while the relationship between the Russian financial industry and the two countries is relatively weak. It shows that under the background of covid-19, the development of financial industry is affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies focusing on China and Russia, whose relationship is of key importance to the configuration of the international system, have been evolving dynamically in various disciplines. We analyze the evolution of this research by focusing on the fields of International Relations and Area Studies. This novel bibliometric study employs Biblioshiny, AntConc, and VOSviewer to analyze 947 publications collected from the Web of Science Core Collection, focusing specifically on 266 publications in International Relations and Area Studies. While mapping research on China and Russia over the last three decades (1990–2019), we identify the main trends regarding the annual distribution of papers, document types, dominant journals, collaboration networks between countries, and the most productive authors. We also establish prevailing research themes resulting from keyword analysis and their respective growth over time, as well as the density of the most frequently used terms and methods employed in the selected research fields. Finally, we identify fruitful avenues for further research, while also demonstrating how the bibliometric approach can inform and direct developments on China and Russia studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Joint Statement by the Foreign Ministers of China and Russia on Certain Aspects of Global Governance in Modern Conditions of 23 March 2021 calls for "the establishment of a fairer, more democratic and rational multipolar world order." The paper inquires how constitutional theories of international organisations have in the past and present sought to contribute to world order. It identifies three waves of such theory since the 1960s. Looking in more detail at the ongoing third wave, it identifies and seeks to pull out further a constitutional model which upscales the proto-democratic practices in international organisations by strengthening forums for participation and contestation, which rectifies to the north-south imbalance inter alia rooted in the colonial heritage by involving more actors from the global south, and which tackles the global social question upfront. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to substantiate the influence of approaches to the economic mechanisms formation for managing supply chains on export and import volumes as well as local cargo transportation. Design/methodology/approach: The study outlines that the information technology use, in particular, highly specialized supply chain management (SCM) software, is necessary for the effective functioning of global supply chains (GSCs). For the purposes of the one-factor regression models of the relationship between the signs for the analyzed factors, volume of external cargo transportation, volume of internal cargo transportation and amount of investment in SCM software were built, and the correlation coefficients were also determined. The research was based on data of the Russian Federation, China and Germany. Findings: According to the results, for local cargo transportation for all three counties (Russian Federation: R² = 0.3679, China: R² = 0.441, Germany: 0.441), the correlation coefficients indicated no connection between the factors under study, while for external ones, they denoted a strong direct relationship: Russian Federation: R² = 0.906, China: R² = 0.8692, Germany: 0.926. It is statistically confirmed that external transportations are carried out by enterprises involved in GSCs, while the local ones are mainly performed by the domestic market-oriented companies. Originality/value: The study presents a model for the formation of economic mechanisms of SCM from the perspective of a systemic approach. It allows for structural analysis of the SCM strategy's impact on the functioning of participants within three management levels (corporate, business and functional). The study contributes to the practical domain of SCM: the results of the study can be applied by top managers of companies in developing SCM strategies, as well as by officials in developing and implementing governmental supply chain-related policies. In terms of scientific contribution, the research can also be of use: its methods and results can be applied by scientists in researching approaches to the economic mechanisms formation for managing supply chains on export and import volumes, as well as local cargo transportation in various countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition away from post-Cold War unipolarity has repercussions for regional orders that have been shaped and sustained by US preponderance. Small states like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), traditionally reliant upon extra-regional powers to balance against more powerful neighbours, are adopting an increasingly muscular foreign policy to hedge against a possible reduced US regional role. Consequently, there is an opening for non-traditional powers to adopt larger roles. Primarily using an outside-in approach, this paper explores the nature of China and Russia's more active bilateral engagement with the UAE. It finds that in an environment where political instability within the larger Middle East combines with uncertainty about US intentions, regional leaders and leaders of extra-regional powers with interests in the Persian Gulf have to adjust accordingly, either to protect those interests or to take advantage of the opportunity to expand their presence in a strategically and economically important theatre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the dissolution of Soviet Union, the US and its Western allies have dominated the global affairs through numerous political and economic organizations. In the same token China and Russia have established close ties after the termination of Cold War to attain regional security so that to minimize the US penetration in the Central Asian region. In this article, the area of Central Asia has been taken as a case study to demonstrate the China-Russia partnership through a multilateral organization; specifically the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the Soft Balancing in the SCO. It further elaborates the Sino-Russian cooperation through SCO in terms of balancing the US preponderance. This paper evaluates historical competition among Great Powers in Central Asian region, and further elaborates on the formation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization1. While this article argues that the main focus of SCO was strengthening regional security issues, fight against terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. However it also aimed to counter the US influence in the region through multilateral organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first-order grey model is appropriate for monotonic time series, while the grey Verhulst model is appropriate for periodic time series. The grey Verhulst model is widely used for predicting practical nonlinear time series that contain fluctuations. Despite the successful application of the grey models in practice, researchers show that grey models still have room for improvement. Moreover, recent research shows that grey models are sensitive to initial conditions. In many practical problems, the value of initial conditions is not accurate and suffers from noise or approximation errors, resulting in inaccurate prediction. To address these difficulties, an improved grey Verhulst method using particle swarm optimization is proposed in this paper. The proposed model consists of two stages. In the first stage, a second-order polynomial with unknown coefficients is used to approximate the 1- AGO. In the second stage, the initial element of the time series is modified to improve the accuracy of the prediction. The particle swarm optimization method is used to search for the unknown coefficients. It is found that PSO is a suitable optimization method for the proposed method because it is stable and generates a sequence of points that converges to a globally optimal solution. To demonstrate the efficiency and stability of the proposed method, it was applied to five practical problems, namely, gas production in China, the number of hazardous chemical accidents, CO2 emissions in Russia, the number of domestic tourists in China, and traffic flows in Canada. Numerical results show that the method is more accurate and robust than existing methods. • The proposed method needs only four elements for predicting the future elements of time series. • The paper proposes a second order polynomial for approximating 1-AGO. • The method makes more accurate prediction than existed methods. • The proposed method is applied on various practical forecasting problems successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1980s, the Soviet Union and China resurveyed their border in order to restart their long-stalemated border negotiations. These negotiations resulted in only a partial border settlement: the agreement was signed in 1991. By the end of 1989, nationalities openly expressing their wish to secede from the Soviet Union caused the Soviet government to slow down the negotiation process, and Moscow insisted on setting aside the most contentious sections. China's nationalities issue had the opposite effect on Zhongnanhai: Chinese leaders wished to settle the entire Sino-Soviet border as quickly as possible. However, once the collapse of the Soviet Union became imminent, the Chinese saw advantages of delaying the negotiations on the disputed sections of the border. They calculated that would allow for China to negotiate with weaker, newly independent countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the assessment of equivalence of the spectral radiance scales in the wavelength range from 250 to 2500 nm, reproduced at the national metrology institutes of Korea (KRISS), China (NIM), and Russia (VNIIOFI), carried out in the framework of international comparisons. The common set of three tungsten strip lamps was used as an artefact. Based on a series of blind measurements of the lamps spectral radiance performed at each laboratory alternately, the reference value of the comparison was determined at each wavelength as a weighted mean of the measured data of three laboratories. The degree of equivalence of each laboratory was then calculated as the deviation of the measurement data of that participant from the reference value. A data analysis method was proposed for calculating the degree of equivalences and their uncertainties. The method is based on processing spectral radiance ratios, rather than differences, which allows eliminating the influence of a result of one particular participant to results of other laboratories. The comparison results confirm the equivalence of spectral radiance scales of all the laboratories within their expanded uncertainties (k = 2) except a few wavelength points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To further accelerate globalization, Western states and companies that regulate financial, investment and trade flows and the system of economic relations in the world that they support, unexpectedly led to the increase of power centers and appearance of multipolar system. In the XXI century apart from the USA, Russia and China some more power centers together with EU played an important role in the building of the global system. Due to fierce competition between them, these states being global and nuclear empires can take part in war conflicts simultaneously, but this is unlikely as it can cause a great catastrophe in the world. In the international system, due to the importance of international strategic balance and security, in the nearest future, at the point of measurement, because of fear of losing their positions, to protect themselves or around a certain request, between the coordinates of the United States-Russia-China-EU and other power centers, in bilateral or triple forms, strategic alliances can be formed. According to this study, these alliances are highly likely to become superficial and improvised. This study aims at shedding light on the strength of possible alliances in the nearest future, studying the past and present of the collaboration between the USA-Russia-China-EU with other global power centers from different perspectives. This paper will discuss the behavior of global power centers which need to learn their old or new roles on the international stage. Thus, we will try to reveal Russia's contribution in the building of multipolar international system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global reproductive landscapes and with them cross-border routes are rapidly changing. This paper examines the reproductive routes and choices of fertility travellers from China to Russia as reported by medical professionals and fertility service providers. Providing new empirical data, it raises new ethical questions on the facilitation of cross-border reproductive travel and the commercialisation of reproductive treatment. The relaxation of the one-child policy in 2014 in China, the increasing demand for ART exceeding the capacity of national fertility clinics and the difficulty of accessing treatment with donor eggs concomitant with a growing economic power of the upper–middle class are shaping the ART industry in Asia in new ways. A new development is Chinese citizens increasingly seeking ART treatment in Russia, which has a long-standing practice of ART governed by a liberal legislation. Furthermore, as China prohibits the export of gametes, Chinese fertility travellers rely on acquiring donor gametes once starting treatment abroad. Clinicians in Russia report three strategies amongst their Chinese patients: One group is using donor eggs of women of Asian appearance living in Russia or is hiring women of resembling appearance from third-party countries to donate their eggs in Russia to create resemblance in their offspring. Another group is buying white donor gametes to create Eurasian mixed children and thus 'enhance' their offspring. Providing novel empirical data, this article informs ethical deliberation and raises imminent questions for further research in this understudied geographic region and on cross-border reproductive treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meeting energy needs and ensuring ecological sustainability are important tasks for policymakers. In particular, changing the energy mix used in daily electricity generation can have a major effect on ecological conditions, and this is a previously neglected research topic. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the influence of daily electricity generation from nuclear power and renewables on the achievement of carbon neutrality targets in the four largest nuclear power countries (i.e., the U.S., China, France, and Russia). The study applies the wavelet-transform coherence (WTC), quantile-on-quantile regression (QQR), and Granger causality in quantiles (GCQ) approaches for the period from January 2, 2019 to December 29, 2022. The outcomes present that electricity generation from nuclear energy reduces carbon (CO 2) emissions only in Russia, while hydropower generation does not contribute to CO 2 emission reduction in any country. Solar electricity generation decreases CO 2 emissions in different quantiles in the U.S. and Russia, while electricity generation from wind power reduces CO 2 emissions in the U.S. and France. The empirical outcomes also reveal that expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power in the energy mix can enhance the potential of the U.S., France, and Russia to achieve carbon neutrality and secure a sustainable future. However, China is using nuclear and renewables inefficiently regarding carbon neutrality. Therefore, the empirical evidence for China is highly controversial compared to former studies. [Display omitted] • The study examines renewable and nuclear electricity effect on carbon neutrality. • The study focuses on top four major nuclear power countries. • The study applies nonlinear approaches by using high-frequency (daily) data. • Renewable and nuclear electricity have time, frequency, & quantile-varying effect. • The best electricity source change according to each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We compare three countries where public policy has explicitly sought to align incentives of employers and educational institutions around closing the gap between skill formation and labor market demand. In large, heterogeneous countries such as the United States, Russia and China, collaborative arrangements such apprenticeships and other forms of public-private partnerships can be constructed at the subnational level by building on direct, face-to-face ties across educational, business, government, and civic sectors. Drawing on existing literature as well as fieldwork studying a number of specific cases in the three countries, the paper develops a typology of such arrangements and proposes an explanation for the observed variation. It emphasizes the importance of two sets of factors: those that induce cooperation on the part of firms and schools, and those that influence the character of such partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Asia, the hub of natural resources, has been the battleground of international power politics among the big powers since long. In order to have influence in the region, the Russian and the British Empires indulge in the "Great Game". However, it ended with the collapse of the Russian empire. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 created an unexpected power vacuum in Central Asia followed by a fierce competition between the big three, Russia, China and US. This competition is commonly known as "The New Great Game" in the present day international politics. The rich energy resources are usually considered the main reason of the renewed interests in the region and provide principal motivation for Russia, China and US. However, the role of energy resources is usually overstated. This paper will identify which other factors along with energy resources should be considered in order to have a broader and comprehensive understanding of the present Geo-political scenario in the Central Asia. Using the Neo-Realist approach, this paper will first analyze the significance of the Central Asian states, how they provoke strategic competition between great powers and how pipeline politics translate it. Finally, the paper will analyses the competing interests of Russia, China and US and the strategies adopted by each for the achievements of its objectives. It will be concluded by stating that how Russia, China and US struggle to attain, keep and enhance power and that energy resources are just a mean to this supreme objective. It will also conclude by asserting that although the great powers behave aggressively and self-interestedly they may find a minimum degree of cooperation to tackle common concerns such as a growing radical Islamism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The natural gas from the eastern line of China and Russia will soon be introduced into China, it will play a strong role in promoting the natural gas utilization projects in the northeastern area and also face various problems. In order to establish a long-term sustainable development resource supply system, combined with the actual situation of energy supply and demand, the future development direction of natural gas in Northeast China after the arrival of Russian gas is discussed in this paper. The main problems are analyzed as follows: the lack of self production and high dependence of outside the region; many choices of alternative energy by the regional characteristics; peak shaving difficult and the surplus hard to deal with; poor substitution economy and the price too high to bear. Some measures on the contradictions are summed up. Diversification of sources and resources can be ensured to sustainable development. It is clear that natural gas should be used as the transitional energy in Northeast China, and some suggestions on the utilization of natural gas for regional economic development are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China, a rising power and Russia, a great power of the past is currently pursuing the aspiration to regain its lost glory, are at the center stage of Asian geopolitics. Starting from the first decade of twenty first century, the extra tilt of Russia's moderate ally India towards the US is ringing alarm bells for China, Russia and Pakistan more or less with an equal spell. Indian tilt towards the US culminating in a nuclear deal between the two in 2008 (Baker, 2008), specifically, post nuclear deal strategic partnership provides the former with a punch to pose a challenge to its two sheer competitors Pakistan and China. In fact, this emerging engagement between Indo-US is based on their shared interest of complicating the security calculations of Pakistan and China. Thus, the strategic partnership between India and the US provides a significant variable to Pakistan to dramatically change the dimensions of its security and strategic relationship with Asian powers such as China and Russia. For Pakistan this partnership will provide it not only an option to maintain balance in the region vis a vis India but it will also provide it with an alternate to the US in the form of realigning its relationship with Russia and China. While shunning off increasing US sway in near abroad is in the interests of both China and Russia, so, this emerging strategic triangle will mutually reciprocate their respective interests. Although, India is obsessed with a desire to become regional hegemon independently pose a significant threat to regional balance and stability in South Asia, its strategic partnership with the US acts moderately as a force multiplier. So, for Pakistan being a major stakeholder in the regional affairs, prudence dictates to cultivate and enhance its strategic relationship with its time tested friend China as well with Russia. The current paper will attempt to access the imperative factors bringing China, Russia and Pakistan closer to form a strategic triangle. It will explore the political, geo-economic and geo-strategic areas of convergence for greater cooperation between this emerging triangle. What are prospects and challenges in the way of development of a strategic triangle between China-Russia and Pakistan that is emerging as a response to a direct threat from Indo-US strategic partnership to gain a hold over regional affairs'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of 'the Belt and Road' initiative, the economic cooperation has great potential between China and Russia. The railway accessibility has an important influence on the economic connections of cities along the railway line. This paper studied the Sino-Russian transnational economic connection based on the railway class accessibility along Trans-Siberian railway (the transnational China railway branch line). The results are as following. First, the railway accessibility of the Chinese nodes is stronger than that of the Russian nodes, which in general displays a tendency of space attenuation from China to the Sino-Russian border, then to Russia. Spatially, the railway accessibility within the study area shows a 'High East, Low West' and 'High South, Low North' spatial pattern. The railway accessibility of the nodes, which are located at the beginning and end of the railway line, is weaker than those nodes located in the middle of the line. Second, the railway accessibility and external economic connection intensity summation of the nodes show a positive relationship along the railway line. The economic connection intensity summation of different nodes presents obvious regional differentiation. Finally, as economic connection network has evolved, the small world effect of Sino-Russian railway economic connection network becomes strong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper will briefly review several turning points in the evolution of the Post-Cold War global order. During the Cold War, the bipolar international order was defined by an opposition between two superpowers whose positions were carefully balanced across the world. By contrast, due to the fact that the global security architecture was, and continues to be, in flux, the past three decades have witnessed a gradual transition from a unipolar world characterized by weak and inconsistent American leadership, to unmitigated efforts on the part of Russia and China to establish a multipolar equilibrium of power. At the same time, the New World Order was breaking with the long-held tradition of placing the military component at the center of the global security system and proclaimed the so-called "Comprehensive Security Doctrine" in which supremacy of law, democratic values, global economic prosperity, social justice, human rights, environmental protection, education and other elements played an equally important role. The idea of undiminished and equal security for all states, big or small, although very attractive in theory, turned out difficult to attain in practice. An emphasis is placed on different models of democracy determined by cultural and traditional peculiarities of states, using the rules of democracy and elections to maintain power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical institutionalism has demonstrated the value of close analysis of policymaking to explain institutional change. Scholars have distinguished four patterns of institutional change: drift, conversion, layering, and displacement. This paper analyzes pension reform in Russia and China to illustrate institutional change in bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes. While policymaking in both countries takes place almost entirely within the state bureaucracy, in China, state authority is much more decentralized than in Russia. This difference helps to explain the difference in the patterns of policy change that we observe in the two cases: periodic abrupt reversals in Russia vs. incrementalism and layering in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A mid global geopolitical chaos, Russia and China are resolved to preserve the global balance. The paper discusses the current stage of energy cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China; it offers its forecasts in view of possible changes and the risks of bilateral political and economic relations and points out that in recent years the two countries have signed several largescale and long-term contracts in the energy sector and, therefore, reached a qualitatively new strategic level of energy cooperation. The authors have posed themselves a task of discussing Russia's energy policy and the impact of external and internal factors on the prospects of its energy cooperation with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research of Eurasian regionalism mostly focuses on the Eurasian core, for example, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, which have been pursuing a more exclusive and closer form of integration – Customs Union/Eurasian Economic Union. Other countries of the post-Soviet space are often described as post-Soviet ‘escapists’ or ‘isolationists’ and mostly discounted in the analyses of the Eurasian regionalism. The paper looks at six post-Soviet states, who opted out from the Eurasian Economic Union, and analyse their interaction with the EEU. The paper argues that despite tensions in relations with Russia, most of these countries are reluctant to entirely disrupt their economic relations with the post-Soviet Eurasia. The paper argues that six countries of the post-Soviet Eurasian periphery effectively pursue policies of a looser form association with the Eurasian core. This finding allows to argue that Eurasian regionalism, similarly to its European model, consists of the core and outer circle. The outer circle is featured by overlapping regional arrangements and growing presence of external powers and growing number of transit and trade flows linking this Eurasian periphery with the West and Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]