"Russia is useful to us internationally and regionally. Internationally we are together in the UN to stop interventions. Regionally we are together in Central Asia in the SCO as it makes it safe for our investments," explained one leading proponent of great power politics. Yet this tendency feels that China can live without Russia and takes satisfaction from the fact that Moscow is increasingly the junior partner. "You see, we Chinese just want to be a great power again and enjoy ourselves," smiled one academic. 

China's own influential globalists have dominated the agenda in the 2000s. Fascinated by the West, they take a dim view of the Putin system as a "not very impressive development". For the globalists, Russia is the past. This Chinese tendency emphasises that Beijing is actually the greatest beneficiary of globalisation and that global co-governance with Washington, with the occasional input from Brussels on climate change or trade, only stands to benefit them. One globalist-inclined government adviser smiled wryly when I asked if Russia had a role in the Asian century: "Being big in territory is not the key. They are too small in GDP — they do not matter at all in geo-economics or in Asia apart from on some energy issues. They are in stagnation. They are neither capable nor permitted to balance between the US and China." 

The most distinctive tendency among foreign policy intellectuals is known as "Asia First". Its proponents believe China needs to focus on being a regional power by dominating bodies like ASEAN or the Asian Forum. Their inspiration is the hidden power of Germany within the European Union. Their minds are also tinged by a sense of "Asia is for Asians". They aim to dislodge America from its domination of the south-east Pacific through a policy of multilateralism with Chinese characteristics, not by building a blue-water navy to rival the US Seventh Fleet. 

Talking with an "Asia-First" advocate from a party think-tank, I found that they consider the idea of Russia as an Asian power laughable — despite Putin's efforts to woo Beijing. If Russia has a place at all in their worldview it is within an "Asian neighborhood policy". We drink tea slowly. "When we think of Russia we think of Putin, vodka, guns and girls. At the moment we are hosting conferences at our think-tank about an Asian community. It would be centred on China, Korea and Japan. We could have a common currency, customs union, tariff system and supranational institutions — like your European Union. Some people have suggested that South Korea would be offered North Korea to join. Some think in exchange Japan could be forgiven, and with a new common currency — a global reserve currency — its debt could be cleared and its economy relaunched. Russia would be given access to the customs union in exchange for loyalty."