Putin Discovers the Limits of Comrade Xi’s Friendship
There were “no limits” to their bonds, declared the leaders of Russia and China earlier this year. More than six months, one messy invasion and a plethora of Western sanctions later, it turns out that perhaps there were a few. The slogan didn’t even appear to surface in the comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin at their encounter on Thursday in Central Asia.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has been in an uncomfortable spot, attempting to balance its ideological alignment with Moscow with an act of aggression by Putin that violates Chinese diplomacy’s cardinal principles of territorial integrity and non-interference. In Uzbekistan, meeting the Russian president for the first time since February, Xi showed clearly that he has no plans to resolve that ambiguity in Putin’s favor. Russia’s leader could have done with a few more strong words and a lot more economic support. He got little more than the bare minimum.
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