ИСТИНА

Relations between Russia and China have received a significant boost during the recent decade, which was marked by Russia’s proclaimed pivot to the East, rising pressure of sanctions from the West and claims made by the leadership of both countries that Russia-China relationship has reached an unprecedented high level. Economic relations between the two countries which for a long period of time were lagging behind the level of political cooperation have intensified recently. This study aims to measure the degree and dynamics of development of bilateral economic relations at this particular moment in time. The analysis is based on multiple sources of data on various aspects of Russia – China economic relations (foreign trade, investment, tourism and other people-to-people communications like students studying abroad, finance etc.) and aims to provide an aggregate measure of the level of bilateral relations on the basis of various socio-economic indicators. The composite index of Russia-China bilateral relations is constructed on the basis of measuring shares of both countries in total volumes of various economic indicators of each other. The methodological framework of the index was formed on the basis of the OECD’s Handbook on Constructing Composite Indicators.