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China-Russia relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China-Russia ties: as the West forces them together, Xi and Putin show up for each other

  • The relationship may be the closest the two nations have been since 1950s honeymoon that followed China’s fight against US and allied forces in the Korean war
  • As the second-largest economy, China could provide Russia with some immunity against possible US sanctions over Ukraine

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The friendship between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin has become much more pronounced since 2014. Against a backdrop of diplomatic boycotts by Western nations, Putin will attend the opening of the Winter Olympics in in Beijing this week. Photo: Tass
Liu ZhenandZhao Ziwen
While US President Joe Biden got personal and threatened sanctions on Vladimir Putin if he invaded Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping tendered a warm welcome to the Russian leader as a guest of honour at the grand Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing on Friday.
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And while Biden and his allied Western leaders announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games because of human rights concerns, the Russian leader will be among a limited number of foreign VIPs turning up to the “Bird’s Nest” stadium in support of the Chinese hosts.
It mirrors the situation in 2014 when Xi made a high-profile appearance at the Winter Olympics in Sochi as Putin was criticised by some Western leaders for Russia’s human rights record. In the following years, the two met nearly 30 times and became “best friends to heart”, as Xi described their relationship.

02:39

'Old friends' Xi and Putin agree to build China-Russia ties in virtual talks ahead of Olympics

'Old friends' Xi and Putin agree to build China-Russia ties in virtual talks ahead of Olympics
Russia and China have clearly built a de facto alliance “without limit, restriction or ceiling”, observers said, with frequent in-depth joint military exercises, joint space programmes and even potential cooperation in missile defence systems as well as regular exchanges between the presidents. This phase of their ties is so solid it possibly comes only second to the comradeship of the 1950s honeymoon that followed China’s fight against the Americans and allied forces in the Korean war.

Over the past seven decades, the two former communist brothers went through an ideological split, border conflicts and years of hostile military confrontation, and China’s development of ties with the US, until the end of the Cold War.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia initially wanted to establish a fully Western, separation-of-powers democracy, but during the Boris Yeltsin era Russia became disillusioned with “Western democracy” in both its domestic and foreign affairs, said Chen Jun, an associate professor at Mudanjiang Normal University.

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“Russia’s Westernisation did not relieve Nato’s expansion and the US’ economic repression,” Chen said. “The US’ promised political and economic reform assistance during the Soviet era was also not fully realised.”

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