The rationale behind this book is two-fold. On the one hand, China–Russia strategic cooperation has displayed significant development and become an increasingly important factor in contemporary international politics, with considerable implications for both US–China and US–Russia relations. On the other hand, attempts to develop a theory-grounded framework and corresponding measurements that would allow an accurate and systematic assessment of the level of China–Russia strategic cooperation as well as its progress over time have been extremely scarce in the existing literature.

China–Russia strategic cooperation has progressed considerably and consistently since the end of the Cold War. According to official documents and statements, the relationship has progressed from “good neighborliness” in the early 1990s to “constructive cooperation” in the late 1990s to “comprehensive strategic partnership” in 2001, then further on to “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination” in 2012 and to “comprehensive strategic partnership of equality, mutual trust, mutual support, common prosperity and long-lasting friendship” in 2016 (Korolev & Portyakov, 2019). A new upgrade took place on June 5, 2019, when Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin declared China–Russia relations to be “a comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era,” which highlights consistent consolidation of China–Russia alignment, its immunity to exogenous shocks, and willingness on both sides to deal with the challenges of the future (Xinhua, 2019).