JRL NEWSWATCH: “Has war in Ukraine sealed the bond between Russia and China?” – Christian Science Monitor/Fred Weir
“Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s summit in Moscow was nominally meant to be about bringing peace to Ukraine. But it appears to have strengthened the countries’ partnership against the West.”
“When … Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow [last week] for a three-day summit with … Putin, one of the most talked about [subjects] … was a Chinese-mediated settlement for the war in Ukraine. … [T]he intense geopolitical pressures triggered by the war have driven Russia and China closer together. The two leaders spent hours in closed, personal talks and signed a raft of new agreements aimed at cementing a strategic partnership that has been tightening for years. The deals included stepped-up military coordination, expanded trade, a ‘nearly finalized’ compact to build a major new gas pipeline that would permanently divert Russian gas supplies from Europe to China, and more concerted efforts to remove the U.S. dollar from their mutual economic transactions. … China … provide[s] Russia with a lot of goods that help keep its war economy running … [and] bolster[s] Moscow’s budget by purchasing a lot of Russian energy. The U.S. government has worried out loud that China could start providing arms to Russia … [M]ost Chinese weaponry, particularly ammunition, is derived from Soviet designs, and [is] thus compatible with contemporary Russian systems. …”