For more than a decade, Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia have forged a respectful relationship. The invasion of Ukraine could upend all that.
They visited a hockey rink in Beijing and the panda enclosure at the Moscow Zoo. They shared blinis layered with caviar in Russia and, reciprocally, the popular variant in China, jianbing. They have shared birthday cakes and exchanged toasts with shots of vodka, while demurring that neither would dare go overboard with the stuff.
Putin’s attack on Ukraine has forced Xi into what Kevin Rudd, the Australian ex-prime minister who was once a diplomat in Beijing, called an “impossible balancing act” between his personal camaraderie with the Russian leader and the potential for blowback for China, should it be seen as endorsing an invasion condemned by most of the world.
The international furor over Ukraine — and the diplomatic isolation Putin is expected to face — could also serve as a warning of what Xi can expect if he uses force to subdue Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that China claims as its territory. Only three weeks ago, on the eve of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Putin and Xi met for the 38th time since Xi became China’s leader, declaring that the friendship between their countries had “no limits.”
It has been shaped by striking biographical parallels but also by differences that could test their “no limits” pledge. “They have very similar views of the role of history in politics and how attacks on their own history are seen as treacherous and dangerous,” Torigian said of the two leaders. “For Xi, the history of China while he’s a mature man is a history of success,” Alexsashenko said. “He wants to move ahead with this rebuilding for the future. For Putin, all good was in the past.”
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