Moscow:  For his first foreign tour as Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev this week heads east to China and not west to the old established powers.

It's a sign of how the two resurgent giants have buried Cold War rivalries and built a "strategic partnership" intended to serve as a counterweight to US dominance.

But while the two countries share many common interests, there is continued friction in key areas -- and the new cordial tone masks some harsh political realities.

Oil and gas are at the centre of what brings the two together and threatens to drive them apart: China s hungry economy needs fuel, and Russia has lots of it to sell but price disputes and geopolitics are getting in the way of their ability to cut deals. Moscow and Beijing are locked in a struggle for influence in ther own backyards: the countries of ex-Soviet Central Asia whose vast energy reserves and strategic location make them a critical prize in a new "Great Game" unfolding among world powers.

As if to stress that Russia remains the dominant player in the region, Medvedev is making a stopover tomorrow in Kazakhstan before flying Friday to Beijing for two days of talks with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders.

Still, there s rich symbolism in Medvedev 's choice of China as the main destination of his first foreign trip. When his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, went abroad for the first time as president in 2000,he travelled to London via Belarus with a message that Russia wanted closer ties to the West.

Source : PTI