China - Russia: An unbalanced partnership

We've heard "Dear friend" a lot during the past three days. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping clearly wanted to show how close they became since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. This camaraderie between the two leaders, however, highlights a great imbalance, to the benefit of China of course.

This week, while the master of the Kremlin has just received an international arrest warrant, Xi Jinping chose to visit his neighbor and Russian counterpart. If the aim of the visit was to remind the world of Beijing's support for Russia, it was a success. A support, certainly, but not unwavering or unqualified.

On the level of cooperation between the two giants, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin said there's been progress on the project of a new gas pipeline between their two countries. However, China fell short of fully embracing the pipeline and there was no mention of supplying weapons. This is because on the international level, China wants to keep its line on the Ukrainian conflict, a form of neutrality, refusing to deliver weapons to Russia, and carefully avoiding Western sanctions.

Because Xi Jinping sees further than Russia: he wants to establish his power and influence on the whole non-Western world, that is to say, to propose an alternative to countries that do not align with American values. From this perspective, while the support of (weakened) Russia is helpful, it is not essential to the Middle Kingdom's long-term plan.