“Economically, they are mutually beneficial trading partners, with China’s industrial machine importing Russian oil, gas, coal, and other raw materials in exchange for high-tech Chinese goods.” ⤴️
“Each sees Washington as the main impediment to the achievement of their international ambitions.” ⤴️
“Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have also forged a close personal connection.” ⤴️
“they issued a joint statement saying that “friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”” ⤴️
“Fears rose in the U.S. and Europe that the two authoritarian states were embarking on a coordinated attack in Asia and Europe against the dominance of the West. Those fears seemed justified when, later that month, Putin launched his war against Ukraine.” ⤴️
“Moscow, for its part, gained important political support from Beijing at a moment when the U.S. was aiming to isolate Russia on the world stage.” ⤴️
“Putin’s security concerns in Europe, which China’s top diplomat described earlier this year as “legitimate.”” ⤴️
“As Russia’s financial and business ties to the West crumble under the weight of sanctions, trade with China has replaced some of the lost income.” ⤴️
“Moscow could enhance China’s naval capabilities by giving its fleet access to Russian ports in the Far East and by sharing technology, especially for undersea warfare. “Russian military pinnacle technologies,” they wrote, “could be coupled with China’s financial resources and industry to tip the Indo-Pacific security balance in favor of a Sino-Russian axis of autocracy at the expense of the United States and its allies and partners.”” ⤴️
“Beijing has not provided material support for Putin’s war effort, nor helped his government and banks evade the tough sanctions imposed by the West after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Self-interest is certainly at work here. In a March conversation, Biden warned Xi that China would face “consequences” if the Chinese leader directly aided Russia. That would likely entail sanctions on China—which the country, still heavily dependent on American and European trade, technology, and investment, can ill afford.” ⤴️
“Beijing has not provided material support for Putin’s war effort, nor helped his government and banks evade the tough sanctions imposed by the West after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Self-interest is certainly at work here. In a March conversation, Biden warned Xi that China would face “consequences” if the Chinese leader directly aided Russia. That would likely entail sanctions on China—which the country, still heavily dependent on American and European trade, technology, and investment, can ill afford.” ⤴️
“Biden and Xi jointly criticized the Russian leader’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, according to Washington’s summary of the conversation.” ⤴️
“Most likely, Xi’s diplomatic two-step is an indication of Beijing’s continuing attempts to play all sides. In that sense, it’s typical Chinese foreign policy.” ⤴️
“China will resist the formation of a new, authoritarian bloc with Russia (or any other countries) like the old Communist bloc that the Soviet Union once formed. Beijing’s commitment to such ideas suggests that it will never forge a true alliance with Russia that would require China’s leaders to coordinate policy more closely or that would bind them to mutual defense.” ⤴️
“The relationship between Xi and Putin is not equal. The Ukraine war has exposed Russia as a declining power, and its isolation from the West has left Putin little choice but to turn to Beijing. Xi is taking advantage.” ⤴️
“China has been purchasing Russian oil at steep discounts.” ⤴️
“The relationship is “more beneficial to China than for Russia,” Gabuev told me. “The asymmetry that was built into this relationship even before the war has been galvanized by the war.”” ⤴️
“Erickson and Collins wrote. “Popular resentment at national subservience may prompt Putin or his ultimate successor to reset relations symbolically, and even substantively, away from Beijing’s preferences.”” ⤴️
“The U.S. certainly pursues its national priorities in its foreign affairs, sometimes ruthlessly, but it has also been willing to make sacrifices to promote its agenda—by, for instance, absorbing the costs of other countries’ defense. China has not always shunned such a practice.” ⤴️
“All the same, the China-Russia relationship could remain dangerous to the U.S. and democracy more broadly. Whatever differences or points of distrust they may have, Beijing and Moscow still share an objective of altering the world order, and they will continue to pursue that, within the constraints of their relations.” ⤴️
“Chinese leaders, she went on, “do see Russia as a useful partner—or useful instrument—in confronting the United States. That has not changed, and that is not going to change.”” ⤴️