MOSCOW, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- In a Sept. 8 Ekho Moskvy radio poll 74 percent of respondents preferred Russia allying itself with the United States instead of China.
The remaining 26 per cent of listeners preferred a Russian alliance with China against the United States.
The poll came late in a 90-minute studio discussion on the "Let's seek a way out" program. Director of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis Professor Aleksandr Sharavin, chairman of the Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev and President of the Institute for Strategic Assessment Aleksandr Konovalov debated the topic "Russia and China: Prospects for a military and political alliance against the USA."
Vorobyev commented that Sino-Russian military and technical cooperation "is very important because China is one of the major purchasers of Russian weapons." Konovalov said that China could obtain modern weapons and energy resources from Russia, "And I think China would be only too pleased, or at least that was how it looked, if Russia supported China's wish to annex Taiwan as rapidly as possible, possibly using military force."
Kosachev said, "I don't think any military-political or military-technical alliance between Russia and China exists yet. But the level of cooperation, which already exists, is purely bilateral and is unlikely to be aimed against anybody, either the U.S.A., India, Europe or anybody else. China is one of the most dynamically developing states in the world."
