Russia and China last week strengthened their alliance by pledging to expand economic cooperation. A presidential summit held in Russia produced 4 billion dollars’ worth of trade deals, adding economic might to the former rivals’ strong military and security ties.

Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Moscow near the beginning of the Chinese New Year was intended to bolster economic cooperation between two countries threatened by America’s global dominance. Trade between the two countries is far outstripped by China’s commercial ties to the United States, Japan and South Korea. Although China urgently needs Russia’s energy resources, trade in other areas between the two nations has been sluggish. Though bilateral trade stood at $36 billion last year, President Hu told Russian media last week that the two nations can raise that figure to $60 to 80 billion by 2010.

The presidents oversaw the signing of 21 contracts at the summit, increasing interdependence between the two economies. Among the largest was a $460 million long-term export contract for Russian steel products. The Russian president also promised to increase delivery of Russian crude oil by railway, potentially increasing exported oil via railway from 10 million tons last year to 15 million tons this year.

The presidents used the summit to strengthen non-economic ties as well. They pledged continuing efforts to boost the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional group dominated by China and Russia and designed to curtail U.S. influence in the resource-rich, strategically placed Central Asia. Putin and Hu pushed hard for the deepening of political, trade, economic and security cooperation with Central Asian countries.

President Putin also said military cooperation with China will continue. China is already the top customer for Russia’s defense industry, receiving billions of dollars’ worth of jets, missiles, submarines and destroyers.

Summits like this recent one are intended to diminish U.S. global dominance and increase Asia’s clout. Russia also gains a bargaining chip with the EU over energy issues by threatening to shift more of its energy supplies to China. China can gain much militarily from Moscow, and its growing economy needs Russian energy resources.

The strengthening alliance between Moscow and Beijing is the early stages of a power bloc referred to in biblical prophecy as the “kings of the east.” Prophecy foretells that ties between the Bear and the Dragon will strengthen even more. For more information, read Russia and China in Prophecy.