There have been outings to the zoo (to loan some pandas) and the Bolshoi Theatre for Chinese President Xi Jinping during his three-day trip to Russia. Last night, he and President Vladimir Putin strolled the streets of the former imperial capital of St. Petersburg and toured the cruiser Aurora, now a museum extolling its role in the Russian revolution.
Xi and Putin have for years spoken with mutual admiration. In recent months, they've taken the relationship up a notch, driven by mutual economic interest. Xi is embroiled in a nasty trade war with the U.S. under President Donald Trump, while Putin's economy is still squeezed by sanctions. The enemy of their enemy, it seems, is their friend.
China and Russia also share positions on handling Iran and North Korea. Xi and Putin have both shown concern about a world where trade actions are used as foreign-policy weapons, where pacts controlling nuclear arsenals are ripped up and where populism drives domestic politics.
But as they take the stage today at Putin's annual economic forum in St. Petersburg, there are also underlying differences. China sees itself very much as the big brother, something Russia can chafe against as a reversal of the position it enjoyed during the Soviet era. Economic cooperation doesn't mean unity on all strategic interests.
And if tensions with the U.S. fade, their need to be quite so chummy might taper with it.
- Rosalind Mathieson and Anthony Halpin
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