Can Russia Become a 'Regional Power' in Northeast Asia? Implications from Contemporary Relations with China and Japan.

Since Vladimir Putin?s coming to power as President in 2000, Russian foreign policy towards East Asia has been oriented towards geopolitical considerations as well as economic pragmatism, as evidenced by his official statements and related governmental programs. This paper, however, argues that Russia?s attempt to pursue both geopolitical and economic pragmatism has resulted in a stalemate: on the one hand, it has continued to envisage the potential threat of geopolitical loss against Beijing due to the gradual expansion of Chinese demographic and economic influence on the Russian territory as a paradoxical consequence of advancing the Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership. On the other, Moscow?s intention of playing China off against Japan in anticipation of maximizing foreign investment from the latter ? crucial to the development of the Russian Far East ? has failed to bear fruit. As regards relations with Japan, Russia has succeeded neither in demonstrating itself to be a reliable strategic partner to countervail the Chinese regional influence, despite the deteriorating Sino-Japanese relationship, nor in playing an intermediary role in the North Korean nuclear crisis. Moreover, unlike the most common interpretation of the deadlock in Russo-Japanese relations, it is domestic unpreparedness (the unfavorable investment climate and the lack of a concrete vision of energy projects? profitability for foreign participants) rather than the bilateral territorial issue that has prevented Japan fully supporting the gigantic project involving the construction of an oil pipeline from East Siberia to the Pacific Ocean (the biggest symbol of possible economic cooperation between the two).This paper concludes that it is difficult for Moscow to realize its ambition of becoming a ?regional power?, especially by maximizing her potential role as an energy supplier in the China-led energy-hungry East Asia, without not only overcoming increasingly xenophobic attitudes towards foreign capital, but also abandoning the expectation of Sino-Japanese competition over the energy resources in the Russian Far East. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]