Auteur de la note

Image de Dr. Arnaud Leveau, President of Asia Centre

Arnaud Leveau, PhD

Arnaud Leveau is President of Asia Centre, Founder of Alta Strategies and Associate Professor at Paris Dauphine University.

He has nearly 30  years of experience across the Indo-Pacific, spanning business, government affairs, and research. His career includes positions in leading organisations such as Airbus, Danone, Sciaci Saint Honoré, and French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He has held academic and research positions at the Chulalongkorn University, Kyoto University, and Sogang University. He also served as Deputy Director of the French Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia.

Arnaud Leveau holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. He is a member of the Asie21 and the author of numerous publications on the Korean Peninsula, Thailand, and Southeast Asia.

His work focuses on strategic and geopolitical dynamics in the Indo-Pacific, with a particular emphasis on defence, security, and international relations.

Autres analyses

Arriving Second: Beijing, Moscow and the Arithmetic of Dependency • Arnaud Leveau, PhD

Arriving Second: Beijing, Moscow and the Arithmetic of Dependency • Arnaud Leveau, PhD | Asia Unfiltered, les billets d'Asia Centre
PDF

Arriving Second: Beijing, Moscow and the Arithmetic of Dependency

[Asia Unfiltered 2026 #8] Arnaud Leveau, PhD, president of Asia Centre, publishes a new opinion piece.

 

↑ Download the article using the PDF button above.

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing, only days after Donald Trump’s own trip, was less a display of strategic confidence than a moment of reassurance. Behind the language of a “no limits” partnership lies a relationship that has become increasingly asymmetric: China needs Russia, but Russia needs China far more.

This imbalance matters. Beijing’s support for Moscow appears driven less by solidarity than by strategic calculation sustaining Russia as a useful counterweight without becoming tied to its outcomes.

For Europe, the lesson is not that a unified authoritarian bloc is emerging, but that the growing hierarchy within the Sino-Russian relationship creates room for others to act. In Asia, middle powers increasingly represent one of Europe’s most important strategic opportunities.

asiacentre.eu