Vladimir Putin just can’t keep away. Having visited Beijing in May on the heels of Donald Trump, it has been announced that the Russian leader – who has been to China more than two dozen times during his tenure as president – will lead his country’s delegation to the 33rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November. This apparent sign of amity, though, is actually an expression of Russia’s growing dependence on China – and Putin’s growing frustration with its refusal to green-light a new gas pipeline project.
For all that some Western politicians and commentators continue to present Moscow and Beijing as marching in lockstep, the Russians themselves have few illusions as to how far the high-flown rhetoric of a “friendship without limits” really get them.
In May, the Russian press crowed that “Xi Jinping didn’t give Trump a single card.” A few days later, what Putin got was a painting of himself and Xi, in which he is about half the Chinese leader’s size. While Xi strides confidently forward, Putin follows loyally behind. Russian commentators had no doubts as to just who was being presented as the “big brother.”
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Peter Hitchens
