Where China-Russia ‘No-Limits’ Ties Stand as Xi Jinping Visits Moscow

Chinese President Xi Jinping is about to embark on his first state go to to Russia in 4 years, spotlighting an alliance that has confronted rising scrutiny since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Here are the important thing elements of their bilateral relationship:

Comrades in arms?

In February 2022, simply forward of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Xi and President Vladimir Putin declared a “no-limits” partnership between the two countries.

The countries enjoyed a close ideological bond in the early Cold War period rooted in their common history of communist revolution, although the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s began a three-decade freeze.

Ties between Moscow and Beijing strengthened considerably after the fall of the Soviet Union, spurred on in recent years by Xi’s and Putin’s shared opposition to what they see as Western international hegemony.

Putin said Sunday that relations were at “the highest point”.

Lucrative buying and selling companions

The huge neighbours have constructed a detailed financial commerce relationship all through current many years, with China now the most important purchaser of Russian oil.

These ties have remained sturdy all through the Ukraine conflict. China’s commerce with Russia reached a report $190 billion final 12 months, Beijing customs information exhibits.

Moscow’s financial ties with the European Union have largely been severed by a wave of crippling sanctions, making China an much more vital buyer for Russian exports.

Xi’s go to to the Russian capital comes as bilateral commerce continues to develop, with Chinese imports and exports displaying double-digit annual development in January and February, in keeping with customs information.

Dear previous buddies

The Chinese and Russian leaders have developed a detailed rapport over the previous decade that usually conflicts with their in any other case stern public demeanours.

Xi used uncommon private language to explain his Russian counterpart throughout a regional summit in Uzbekistan final September, greeting Putin warmly as “my expensive previous pal”.

And despite repeated urging by Western leaders, Xi has thus far declined to condemn the Ukraine invasion.

The Chinese leader’s comments on the Ukraine war echo the rhetoric adopted repeatedly by Putin — that NATO’s eastward expansion and US-led hegemonic behaviour bear central responsibility for the conflict.

For Xi, publicly demonstrating the mutual affection he enjoys with Putin allows him to bolster his reputation as a leading statesman, a key pillar of his ambitions for China to play a bigger role on the global stage.

A lopsided friendship

China has blossomed into the world’s second-largest economy since the Chinese Communist Party initiated a dramatic campaign of economic reforms in the 1980s.

Its robust tech sector and advanced manufacturing capabilities now stand in stark contrast to Russia’s largely energy-dependent economy, which in 2022 was roughly 10 times smaller than China’s, according to GDP estimates from the World Bank.

The lack of any formal military alliance or core ideological framework has caused some analysts to refer to the relationship as merely transactional.

The strain on Russia’s economy and Putin’s international pariah status — solidified last week by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes — stand to make the relationship even more lopsided as the war drags on.

“Putin wants an even relationship with China, like with a twin brother, but it’s not the case,” analyst Timothy Ash advised AFP.

“Russia has no different possibility” than to turn to China, he said.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed)