In his book The Bear and the Dragon. Russia-China: The story of a friendship without limits? Sylvie Bermann explores the complex relationship between Russia and China. After centuries of unstable relations, with tsarist Russia seeking to develop its trade and imperial China seeking to protect its borders, a rapprochement began under the reign of Catherine II. The coming to power of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949 sealed a Sino-Soviet alliance, albeit an unbalanced one. Today, China, with its economic success, sees Russia as dependent on its energy resources and incapable of becoming a major economic power. Sylvie Bermann shows that, despite these shifts in the balance of power, Moscow and Beijing, united against Western values and rivals of the United States, now influence a significant part of world dynamics, particularly in the so-called Global South.
Ambassador to China (2011-2014), the United Kingdom (2014-2017) and Russia (2017-2019), Sylvie Bermann is the first woman to have held this position in three countries that are permanent members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Elevated to the rank of French ambassador in 2019, she has been chairwoman of the board of directors of the Institut des hautes études de défense nationale (IHEDN) since 2020. She was also mediator for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for the implementation of the Minsk agreements from 2021 to 2022. She is the author of numerous books, including _ Madame l'ambassadeur. De Pékin à Moscou, une vie de diplomate_ (Tallandier, 2022) and Goodbye Britannia. The United Kingdom and the challenge of Brexit (Stock, 2021).
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