A study on the effective factors of integration and conflicts between Russia and China in post cold war era

After the cold war and collapse of the Soviet Union, the international order faced drastic changes and the United States managed to establish its desired unipolar structure and hegemonic order due to its superiority in ideological, economic, political and military arenas. Notwithstanding, China’s economic growth and Russia’s reviving influence in regional and international evolutions, have lead to a change in international order and development of a unipolar-multipolar system that may increase either integration or conflicts between the actors.
The following research question guides this study: What are the most influential factors for integration and conflict between Russia and China in post cold war era? The article’s hypotheses is that A) The following factors would lead to an integration between Russia and China: economic, political and security cooperation in the framework of BRICS and SCO, a cyber war with the United States, the worry of US and NATO’s presence in their borders’ periphery, common interests in Central Asia, common threats in regional crises (such as Syria and North Korea), and the worry of the extremism expansion into their territories. B) Issues such as lack of confidence in mutual relations, increase of Chinese population in Russia, competition for energy resources in Central Asia, inability in building a defensive alliance between the two countries, would lead to a conflict between Russia and China. Using explanatory – analyzing research method, the authors try to tell why the research findings provide an answer to the research question.