Russia & China Grow Closer With New Cyber Agreement

Xi Jinping’s appearance at Vladimir Putin’s side at the Victory Parade in Moscow suggests a deeper relationship based on a common US adversary.

The Russia and China cemented their growing friendship last week with the signing of a new cyber security pact, which according to a 12-page agreement, written in Russian, the two countries have vowed not to launch cyber attacks against each other.
They have also agreed to pool information, law enforcement and technology resources to better equip themselves against any incoming attack that may attempt to "destabilize the internal political and socio-economic atmosphere," "disturb public order" or "interfere with the internal affairs of the state".
While it may perhaps be naive to think that Russia and China will not invest any resources whatsoever into keeping tabs on each other, the new pact will undoubtedly see the two nations strengthen their defences significantly, while freeing up offensive resources for deployment elsewhere.

Recently, Russia staged a grand celebration in Moscow to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the country’s defeat Nazi Germany in World War Two. The occasion, which featured a military procession through Red Square, did not include the leaders of the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, who declined to attend out of protest of Russia’s interference in Ukraine. 
But of the 30 or so world leaders who did arrive, only one had the privilege of sitting beside Russian leader Vladimir Putin the Chinese president. 
As Russia’s relationship with the United States and its European allies grows worse, its ties to China have never been closer. On the eve of the parade, the two countries announced 32 separate bilateral agreements, including a non-aggression pledge in cyber warfare. The deals complement a $400 billion deal made last May 2014, when Russia agreed to ship 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas each year between 2018 and 2048 to China. And soon Russian and Chinese naval vessels will conduct live drills in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
In remarks published in Xinhua, China’s official news service, Xi Jinping ascribed the closeness between China and Russia to the their shared sacrifice in World War Two. “Decades ago, the Chinese and Russian nations shared weal and woe and forged an unbreakable war friendship with fresh blood,” he said. 
But in the seven decades since the war, relations between the two haven’t always been warm, when they existed at all. Ideological and geographical disputes triggered a Sino-Soviet split in 1960, and over the next three decades the two countries had a more adversarial relationship with each other than either had with the United States. 

Despite many differences and possible points of contention, China and Russia are united by a major strategic interest: disrupting the United States. Beijing and Moscow have found common cause on the United Nations Security Council, where they often block US-led foreign policy initiatives. 

And when Washington and its European allies slapped sanctions on Russia’s economy after Moscow’s forcible annexation of Crimea, Beijing remained neutral, despite non-interference being the bedrock principle of Chinese foreign policy. 
Naked Security: http://bit.ly/1S5hhCZ
DefenseOne: http://bit.ly/1c24H66