The war in Ukraine has not broken this Sino-Russian partnership, but it has fundamentally altered its internal balance. The condominium has evolved into an asymmetric interdependence, where China’s economic networks dictate the terms of regional order and Russia’s ability to exercise a regional veto has rapidly diminished.China is not muscling its way into Eurasia — it is wiring it. By controlling key network nodes across logistics, energy, finance and digital governance, Beijing is engaging in a form of “weaponized interdependence.” China is shaping the very infrastructure and rules within which smaller states operate, expanding its freedom of action as Russia’s relative power declines.
mandag 9. mars 2026
China quietly eclipsing a weakened Russia in Central Asia
For much of the post–Cold War period, Central Asia operated as a “managed condominium”—a geopolitical arrangement where Russia supplied the hard-security umbrella and China functioned as the dominant economic partner.
The war in Ukraine has not broken this Sino-Russian partnership, but it has fundamentally altered its internal balance. The condominium has evolved into an asymmetric interdependence, where China’s economic networks dictate the terms of regional order and Russia’s ability to exercise a regional veto has rapidly diminished.China is not muscling its way into Eurasia — it is wiring it. By controlling key network nodes across logistics, energy, finance and digital governance, Beijing is engaging in a form of “weaponized interdependence.” China is shaping the very infrastructure and rules within which smaller states operate, expanding its freedom of action as Russia’s relative power declines.
The war in Ukraine has not broken this Sino-Russian partnership, but it has fundamentally altered its internal balance. The condominium has evolved into an asymmetric interdependence, where China’s economic networks dictate the terms of regional order and Russia’s ability to exercise a regional veto has rapidly diminished.China is not muscling its way into Eurasia — it is wiring it. By controlling key network nodes across logistics, energy, finance and digital governance, Beijing is engaging in a form of “weaponized interdependence.” China is shaping the very infrastructure and rules within which smaller states operate, expanding its freedom of action as Russia’s relative power declines.
