reply to post by FidelityMusic
Well, the nature of the relationship in between China and North Korea and the one existing in between Russia and Iran are not really the same.
China has been, since the birth of the so called Popular Democratic Republic of North Korea, perhaps the principal sponsor of that regime. It is not a
secret that the Nuclear Korean Program was boosted by technology aid of China, perhaps in the same way it happened with the Pakistanian one.
Additionally, North Korea represents at present also one of the political strongly tied satellites that conform the sphere of influence of Beijing in
the world, the others are: Yemen, Albania, Cuba, Venezuela.
Iran never has been a satellite of Moscow properly, in fact the islamic revolution of 1979 is seen as a possible ultra nationalistic reaction against
the soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The current partnership in between Iran and Russia is caused by the embargo that USA has done against Teheran, is
an alliance of mutual convenience but not ideologic.
For this reason Iran is not precisely a puppet in the hands of Moscow, it has never been in the same level of influence as were in other times Lybia,
Syria or Tunisia. In fact the Russian interest on Iran became important after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, by US forces.
Now, Russia does not see North Korea as part of its influence in the far east, and certainly it is a source of worry, since North Korea is a
overpopulated country that has supported along years the same territorial claim of China over part of the Russian territories on far east, in
particular over any land located to the south of the Amur River.
Russian sphere of influence in Far east includes Vietnam and Mongolia, precisely to try to neutralize the potential Alliance in between China and
North Korea, just in case. In the same way the Russian-Indian friendship has been calculated in the geopolitics as a form of neutralization of the
Chinese-Pakistanian one.
China and Russia have at present apparently a very nice relationship, however there is still a lot of lack of mutual confidence, perhaps due to the
way the two countries evolved politically in the XX century.
After the death of Joseph Stalin Russia experienced a gradual liberalization of its own version of communism, beginning with the denounce that
Nikita Krushev did on the crimes of Stalin, until to arrive to the very tolerant constitution of 1977, when it was no longer present the traditional
Marxist claim that the Soviet Union was the Dictatorship of the Proletarian Class, but just a fraternal union of the different social classes of the
past. Finally in 1980's the Perestroika started a democratization of the country, as well as a transparence of the information, that open a lot of
political spaces that ended in the fall of the rule of the Communist party and the disolution of the Soviet Union and fall of all the communist
regimes of eastern europe.
China instead, after the death of Stalin, claimed that the Soviet Union was no longer a trully Communist country, and that they were the only trully
continuators of the Marxist-Leninist ideals, they went in the 1960's to a furious cultural revolution that is still remembered as one of the more
intolerant and repressive of all the history. China supported Korea war and also helped North Vietnam against the south in 1970s. Beijing never saw
with sympaty the liberalization of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, but with a lot of worry for the possibility that the phenomenon spread to its
territory, until the terrible repression of the protests for liberalization in Tianamen Square in 1989. That incident marked the complete rejection
of Beijing to the Perestroika.
As soon as the fall of the Soviet Union became a fact, China tried to take control and offer its protection to the few pieces of the former Soviet
sphere of influence that remained still under communism, like Cuba or Yemen.
One can conclude that the dynamics of China in the second half of the XX century and the first decade of the XXI has been toward a lot of
liberalization in the economics but strong conservatism in political aspects, while Russia has moved along the path of great liberalization in the
politics, but a several times more cautious approach in the economics, accepting a market economy but strongly regulated.
It is true that China accepted a business partnership with the west since 1973, when Nixon signed an agreement with Mao tse tung, but Beijing never
has renounced to the Communism, at least as an ideal, and it seems it is not planning to do so in the future. China have used in a very smart way its
relationship with USA since 1970s to get technology and capital in the same way it did with The Soviet Union in the 1950's and 1960's. Officially the
modern China is a country with two economic Systems: Centralized economy and Market Economy, but only one political system: the strong rule of the
Comunist Party of the Peoples republic.
Vladmir Putin has shown a lot of interest in the last years to improve the relationship of Russia with the Tibetian budhist leader Dalai Lama, that is
something particularly shocking for China, that insist that Tibet, that was occupied since 1950, is part of its territory.
Pls read;
en.rian.ru...
Thanks for your comments.
The Angel of Lightness
edit on 4/26/2013 by The angel of light because: (no reason given)