China will keine Achse führen: Pekings tiefe Zweifel an Russland und Nordkorea

[SS from essay by Sergey Radchenko, Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.]

China and Russia’s 2022 proclamation of a “no limits” partnership with “no ‘forbidden’ areas” has had a far-reaching effect. The agreement implied that Beijing and Moscow were about to resurrect their long-defunct alliance that, when it briefly bound the two powers in the 1950s, projected a formidable threat that the United States could not afford to leave unchallenged.

Regardless of their various disagreements, Chinese President [Xi Jinping](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/tags/xi-jinping) has called Russian President Vladimir Putin his “dear friend” and was overheard in March 2023 telling him that the two of them were together “driving changes unseen in a century.” Their frequent meetings have produced a set of programmatic statements that highlight a shared opposition to “hegemonism”—a code word for American dominance—and promise a more “just” international order. According to Russia’s ambassador to China, Igor Morgulov, Xi has accepted Putin’s invitation to attend Victory Day celebrations in Moscow in May 2025. And their partnership has extended beyond rhetoric and symbolism: China has provided material support for Russia’s brutal war of aggression in Ukraine in the form of dual-use technologies, which have both military and commercial applications, and purchases of Russian oil and gas.

I feel Russia is using China as a tool to get weapons for its war. If the war ends, then Russians will come out 2nd in this deal. China has more economic,manufacturing and technological capability than Russia now(debatable but still).

Putin will have to distance Russia from China else he will end up being a Chinese vassal in future.

China is playing the long game.