Though the conclusion of long-negotiated gas deals between Russia and China may seem to reflect a deepening of the bilateral relationship, China extracted an exceedingly low price from Russia for the gas that it will receive. This, together with the fact that China has cut lending to Russia since the Crimea invasion, suggests that, in the longer term, the Chinese envision Russia as a natural-resource vassal, not an equal ally.
在这场冲突中，中国实际成为美国某种意义上的盟友。尽管俄中天然气协议经过漫长谈判终告成功，或许反映了两国关系的深化，但中国从俄罗斯那里要到了极低的天然气价。考虑到这一点，再加上自俄罗斯入侵克里米亚以来中国减少了对俄贷款这一事实，表明从长期看，中国将俄罗斯视为自然资源库而不是平等盟友。