China and Russia have become increasingly isolated from the West – and closer to each other – under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine occurred just days after Xi and Putin established a significant partnership on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics – the first in-person bilateral meeting Xi had attended since the pandemic began.
According to a joint statement issued by the two leaders, the two countries’ bonds have “no limits” and there are “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.” It urged the West to “abandon the ideologized approaches of the cold war” and backed each other’s positions on Ukraine and Taiwan.
According to Ryan Hass, a Brookings Institute scholar on China and Asia, Beijing’s rationale for the China-Russia relationship is that both countries face a hostile west and will be better able to withstand western pressure if they stand together rather than apart. “Without Russia, China would be alone in dealing with a hostile west determined to obstruct China’s rise,” the thinking goes.
“It’s important to remember that China and Russia don’t have perfectly aligned interests,” Hass says. “China has far more to lose… than Russia.” China sees itself as a rising power with momentum behind it. Russia is essentially fighting declining tides.”
