July 18, 2012 The failure of Russia and China to sign a big gas supply contract last week has revived talk of the competitive tension between the giant neighbours.
The two have argued for years over a final price for the sale of billions of cubic metres of Russian gas to China via two Siberian pipelines.
The former Cold War rivals have undoubtedly grown closer in the past decade, evident in their common position on Syria, much increased trade and frequent trips to China by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But Raffaelo Pantucci from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences says even the apparent harmony of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit last week hid underlying tensions.
Russia and China are the dominant members of the six member group which includes the four former Soviet states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Correspondent: Karon Snowdon
Speaker: Raffaello Pantucci, Visiting Scholar at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
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