On the face of it, the ‘no limits’ partnership between Russia and China declared weeks before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022 appears to be going from strength to strength.
After a recent summit between new partners China and Russia, General Secretary Xi Jinping and Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin issued an odd one-sentence communique: “There can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be fought.”
….why did the two feel the need to issue such a terse statement—and why now?
Joe Biden is the worst US president since Jimmy Carter. He specialises in betraying America’s friends and rewarding its enemies, in humiliating the West and empowering the Global South’s autocracies.
Mr. Biden can either enforce his red line through sanctions or other means, or he can signal a collapse of American resolve by applying merely symbolic penalties.
Vladimir Putin has said he will discuss Xi Jinping’s 12-point plan to “settle the acute crisis in Ukraine”, during a highly anticipated visit to Moscow by the Chinese president.
The relationship between China and Russia, Wang said through an interpreter, was not directed against any third party but equally would “not succumb to pressure from third parties” – a clear jab at the United States.
Imports of Russian oil rose by 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May, displacing Saudi Arabia as China’s biggest provider.
China has ramped up purchases of Russian oil despite demand dampened by Covid curbs and a slowing economy.
In February, China and Russia declared their friendship had “no limits”.
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