[Nikita]

Do you really think that Russia would allow the Chinese to take possesion of 50% of our strategic resources and the largest natural gas source in the world. They would totally destroy any Russian attempts to regain its Superpower title ( Although I still say Russia is a Superpower, It has the power to destroy most of mankind, why wouldn't you class them as one ? ).

Also, to say that Russia would just set there and watch them take over Siberia, throughout history Russia has risked most of its empire to protect Siberia, why wouldn't it this time? If you have read the Russian Defense Doctrine you would know that it will take preventive strikes to ensure safety for the Russian homeland, as shown in 1969, the Chinese border chrisis over the alluvial island situated in between the Amur & Ussuri Rivers, they could have penertrated in the Chinese heartland ( bejiing ), which would have destroyed all of China's industrial capabilities, it's all flat land what's there to stop thousands of Russian MBT's rolling into the Chinese capital.

As for this theory of " China has so many ' army men ' it could easily take care of Russia " thats just ignorant, if any of you had any clue of the Russian military you would know this

China:
Current Active Troops: 2,250,000
Trained Reserves: 500 - 600,000
MBT's: 7,010
APC's: 6,000
Artillery ( Combined, Rocket, Self-propelled etc. ): 21,900
AT Guns/Missiles: 300+/6,000
Aircraft:
Bombers - 120
Fighters - 1,400
Ground attack - ( fighter aircraft modified for Ground attack missions )

Russia:
Current Active Troops: 960,600
Trained Reserves: 20,000,00 !
MBT's: 21,820
APC's: 25,975
Artillery ( Combined, Rocket, Self-propelled etc. ): 18,000+
AT Guns/Missiles: Uknown/12,500++
Aircraft:
Bombers - 625
Fighters - 1,390
Ground attack - 1,100

The difference in training is great, Russian army is far more disciplaned and experinced than the Chinese ' army '. Also the quality in equipment is far apart, the Chinese equipement is outdated ( an extremely large portion of it ), while the Russian army has alot of outdated equipment ( by age ) much of it has been upgraded to todays standars. And it is well known, common knowledge, that nearly everything that the Chinese army is equpped with has been copied from Russian designs. They have also intergrated both Russia & American technology into there aircraft.

In the area of Nuclear weapons, Russia is far surperior in terms of numbers and quality.

China - - Nuclear waheads
Strategic: 400
Operational: 400
Storage: - None
Launcers: No mobile launchers, all ICBM's in service are silo based.
ICBM/SLBM/Bombers Weapons: 120/12/130/18 ( this figure is expect to be far more, but all released information states that this is the correct figure )

Russia - Nuclear waheads
Strategic: ~4,422
Operational: ~4,422
Storage: 11,000 ++
Launcers: 923
ICBM/SLBM/Bombers Weapons/Tactical Nukes: 613/232/78/Unknown

There is not much known about the quality of Chinese Nuclear weapons, but it is expected to be poor, by Russian & American standards.

Also, if the Chinese army somehow, however very unlikely, managed to defeat the Russian conventional forces, the Russian military command would have no choice but to use tactical nuclear weapons, to ensure Russia's role as a major world power, without Siberia Russia's stategic resources would be 50%+ less. However, it is likely that the Chinese would not launch a total nuclear strike against Russia, due to its small arsenal of merely 400, if it did use all it would have nothing left to deter American from attacking China. Also I doubt that the Chinese would allow it to escalate to Nuclear war, it has worked hard through-out this century to build up its industy & agritculture. They would have to work alot harder to rebuild there economy.

- Femto

[Sovereign]

China won't take Siberia. In fact, Russia and China are strengthening their alliance right now:

BEIJING,China (AP) -- China and Russia will hold their first joint military exercise next year, the Chinese government has announced, and President Hu Jintao is calling for further expansion of the rapidly growing alliance between the former Cold War rivals.

The announcement came during a visit this week to Beijing by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was expected to discuss expanding Russia's multibillion-dollar annual arms sales to China.

The exercises were to take place on Chinese territory, the official China News Service (CNS) said Monday.

China's Xinhua News Agency quoted Ivanov and his Chinese counterpart, Cao Gangchuan, as saying the military exercises would be an "important event, the significance and impact of which will be far-reaching."

Beijing and Moscow have built up military and political ties since the Soviet collapse in 1991, driven in part by a joint desire to counterbalance U.S. global dominance.

In October, Beijing and Moscow settled the last of their decades-old border disputes that led to violent clashes in the 1960s and 1970s.

The agreement was signed during a trip to Beijing by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said relations had reached "unparalleled heights."

That visit also produced a pact to jointly develop Russian energy resources -- an urgent issue for Beijing, which is trying to avert fuel shortages in its booming economy.

The frontier, where at one point 700,000 Soviet troops faced 1 million Chinese soldiers, is now a bustling cross-border market.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/13/china.russia.ap/index.html

Sorry, but I seriously don't think they're pointing nuclear weapons at each other. Its just an american fantasy.

[Lord_Tito]

A Russian China joint togheter would be good for the world ^^

[CoffeeCake]

It sure as hell wouldn't be good for American hemogeny

Kudos to them though for finally rapproaching after 25 years of unstable relations.