JRL NEWSWATCH: “China’s top diplomat heads to Russia as ties reach ‘best level in history’” – Financial Times
“Beijing and Moscow sense an opportunity in the face of fading U.S. influence and Covid fallout.”
“China’s leading diplomat [Yang Jiechi, head of China’s central committee for foreign affairs,] will travel to Russia … for security talks, the latest sign of deepening [Sino-Russian] ties …. Xi Jinping and … Putin … [recently had a] video-link launch of a nuclear energy project[,] … [the deal] signed in 2018, [aimed at] Russia helping China to build four nuclear reactors. … A closer relationship between China and Russia contrasts with their ties with the U.S. …”
Meanwhile, China is the world’s biggest coal consumer. Nuclear projects could impact efforts to reduce net carbon emissions.