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China-Russia relations, or Sino-Russian relations (Chinese: 中俄俄羅斯關係, Zhōng é Èluósī guānxì; Russian: Китайско-российские отношения, Kitaysko-rossiyskiye otnosheniya) are the bilateral relations between the Imperial Dominion of China and the Imperial Russian Commonwealth. The two countries are the two of three of the most powerful states in the Eastern Hemisphere, and two of four world superpowers. While China ranks #1, Russia either ranks as #3 or #4 in world power rankings, and within the case of the Eastern Hemisphere, China is #1 while Russia ranks either #2 or #3.
China and Russia are currently allies, as Russia has been absorbed into the Chinese political sphere of influence, and has joined various Chinese-led alliances such as the Shanghai Pact and the Silk Road Initiative, not only with military/political aims, but with economic aims as well. Both Chinese and Russian leaders have stressed the importance of keeping relations positive, and the two have considered each one of their most important allies. However, the history has not always been friendly.
The Russian Empire and Qing Dynasty were both political rivals and engaged in a number of conflicts, during the Boxer Rebellion the Russian Empire part of the Eight-Nation Alliance that put down the Boxers. However, shorty after the Russo-Japanese War, the Qing China and the Russian Empire found themselves in a new alliance, and during the, Russian Civil War and the victory of the Whites, both China and Russia entered into an alliance-like friendship that saw Chinese conservatives aka "White Chinese" helping the White Russians in the Russian Civil War, as well as the White Provisional Russian government against Bolshevik remnants. In return, the succeeding Provisional government, and the Tsarist government under Cyril, ceded Harbin, and many Manchurian territories to the White Chinese Republic. During the Northern Expedition, the Russian Empire supported the Beiyang or the Beijing Government against the forces of the Nanjing Government, led by President Sun Yat-Sen. In spite of Russia's closeness with Japan, Russia and China also ended up in the Allied side against the Axis.
During the Second Chinese Civil War, the North Chinese Confederation was Russian-supported - led by Prince Generalissimo Zhang Xueliang, that culminating in the victory against the Republic of China led by Chiang Kai-Shek. The Russians helped facilitate the unification of the Empire of China, and helped Chiang Kai-Shek, who defected to the Imperial side, hunt down Feng Yuxiang and the remnants of the old Republic of China. The Empire of China and the Russian Empire continued to support Eastern and Far Eastern monarchies against Western-backed republicanist and capitalists forces, culminating in the eastern victories in Korea and Vietnam.
During the 1980s, China started to reach parity with the Russians in its economic and military might, and in the 1990s, China surpassed Russia in terms of its economic and military performance and global rankings. China signed a series of treaties and agreements In 1993, China and Russia signed a new defense agreement, if Russia entered China's sphere of influence and renounced territorial claims against China, which the Russians obliged. Additionally, Chinese companies started massive investments in Turkestan, which is in spite of being Russian territory, is considered China's "westernmost economic province".