China and Russia Are More Inseparable Than Ever
The bonds pulling the two nations together are stronger than they were during the Cold War, while the forces that might drive them apart are weaker.
No daylight between them.
Photographer: Wang Zhou/Getty Images
Last week’s call between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping was timed to coincide with the latter’s birthday — but also to send a message. By reaffirming Beijing’s support for Moscow even as the Russian military is laying waste to a wide swath of Ukraine, the Russian and Chinese presidents were signaling to the West that their nations’ newly forged strategic alignment will endure.
This near-alliance between two autocratic behemoths presents the West with its greatest geopolitical challenge since the end of the Cold War. Finding some way to break it apart — as US President Richard Nixon managed with his outreach to Mao Zedong 50 years ago — would seem an obvious priority. Unfortunately, the conditions for such a stratagem don’t exist today as they did then.