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After Xi-Putin Summit, Russia Inches Closer to China, as New Cold War Looms, Amid Russia's Military Buildup Near Ukraine

February 4, 2022

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 4, 2022

 

China Focus: Xi, Putin agree on closer strategic coordination

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia, 2022-02-05

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) --

Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks here on Friday with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games opening ceremony. The two leaders agreed to deepen strategic coordination in a cordial and friendly atmosphere.

Recalling his attendance at the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games in Russia in 2014 when they agreed to meet again eight years later in Beijing, Xi said Putin's visit has realized their "get-together for the Winter Olympics," and their meeting today will inject more vitality into China-Russia relations.

Despite the multiple challenges that face the world, China and Russia have stayed true to their original aspirations and maintained the steady development of bilateral relations, said Xi.

The two countries have firmly supported each other in upholding their respective core interests, enhanced their political and strategic mutual trust, and brought the bilateral trade to a new high, Xi said.

The two sides have actively taken part in the reform and development of the global governance system, practiced true multilateralism, upheld true democratic spirit, and played a pivotal role in uniting the international society to tide over the current difficulties and safeguard international equity and justice, he said.

Xi said he stands ready to work with Putin to chart the future and provide guidance for bilateral relations under new historical circumstances. He expressed willingness to work with Putin to promote the continuous transformation of high-level mutual trust between China and Russia into results of cooperation in all fields and bring real benefits to the people of the two countries.

Xi stressed commitment between China and Russia to deepening back-to-back strategic coordination and upholding international equity and justice side by side in the face of profound and complex changes in the international situation.

The strategic choice, which has far-reaching impacts on both countries and the world at large, has never been and will never be shaken, said Xi.

Xi called on both sides to continue to maintain close high-level exchanges, give strong support to each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, effectively respond to external interference and regional security threats, and maintain international strategic stability.

Both sides should step up coordination and cooperation in international affairs, and shoulder major-country responsibilities in global issues of pressing concern, such as fighting COVID-19, boosting the economy and tackling climate change, said Xi.

China is ready to work with Russia to give full play to the political advantages of bilateral relations and push for more achievements in all-round pragmatic cooperation, Xi said.

He called for implementing the roadmap for high-quality development of China-Russia trade in goods and services, deepening cooperation in such areas as agriculture, green trade, medicine and health, and the digital economy, promoting transport infrastructure connectivity, and maintaining the smooth logistics on the Eurasian continent as well as stability of global industrial and supply chains.

China and Russia should strengthen their strategic partnership in energy, steadily advance major oil and gas cooperation projects, step up joint innovation in major energy technologies, expand cooperation on new energy, support each other in ensuring energy security, and improve the global energy governance system, he said.

Xi called for more technological innovation cooperation between the two countries, and cooperation in frontier areas such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and the International Lunar Research Station project.

The two countries should deepen communication on fiscal and financial policies, strengthen their capability of resisting financial risks, and seek greater synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union, he said.

Xi said that he is ready to jointly announce with Putin the official launch of the Years of Sports Exchanges between the two countries to deepen mutual understanding and traditional friendship between the two peoples.

Xi said China and Russia should view the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) from a strategic and long-term perspective, move in the right direction and better safeguard the security and common interests of its member states.

Hailing the SCO's extraordinary course of development over the past 20 years, Xi said it has become an important constructive force in the international community.

China is ready to work with Russia to enable the BRICS cooperation mechanism to play a bigger role in upholding multilateralism, strengthening anti-pandemic cooperation and promoting economic recovery, and make a greater contribution to global development while realizing the development of the five BRICS countries, he said.

Putin said he is delighted to be invited to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, and noted that the exchange of visits during the Olympics has become a symbol and a good tradition of close relations between the two heads of state.

He expressed belief that the Chinese people will definitely present a Winter Olympics of the highest level to the world, expecting wonderful performances of both Russian and Chinese athletes.

Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has not prevented him from maintaining close exchanges with President Xi through various channels, Putin said the bilateral trade has made steady progress, and the two countries have cooperated closely on international affairs.

He said Russia regards China as its most important strategic partner and like-minded friend, and Russia-China relations are a model of international relations in the 21st century.

The Russian side is willing to further deepen strategic communication and coordination with the Chinese side, firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity, firmly uphold the core coordination role of the United Nations, firmly uphold international law and international fairness and justice, and promote the building of a more just and reasonable international order, Putin said.

He also expressed Russia's readiness to work with China to deepen cooperation in various fields including economy, trade, energy, science and technology, finance, and transportation, and jointly host the Years of Sports Exchanges.

China and Russia issued a joint statement, in which they called on all countries to strengthen dialogue, enhance mutual trust, build consensus, safeguard the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom for all humanity.

In the statement, they also called for respect for the rights of people of all countries to independently choose their development paths, respect for the sovereignty and security, and development interests of all countries.

They also called for defending the international system with the United Nations at its core and the international order based on international law, practice true multilateralism in which the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council play a central coordinating role, promote the democratization of international relations, and achieve world peace, stability and sustainable development.

The two countries also signed a series of cooperation documents in key areas.  ■

China Focus: Xi, Putin agree on closer strategic coordination -Xinhua (news.cn)

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White House Dismissive of Putin – Xi Meeting 

VOA, February 04, 2022

By Patsy Widakuswara

WASHINGTON — 

The White House dismissed a Friday meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the leaders unveiled a strategic alliance geared against the U.S.

"What we have control over is our own relationships and the protection of our own values and also looking for ways to work with countries even where we disagree," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during her briefing.

In the meeting, Xi endorsed Putin's demands to end NATO expansion and get security guarantees from the West, issues that have led to Russia's standoff with the United States and its allies over Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow voiced its support for Beijing's stance that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

The two leaders met at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday afternoon, according to China's state broadcaster CCTV, hours before the beginning of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which diplomats from the U.S., Britain and other countries are boycotting over human rights abuses.

The broadcaster did not provide details of the meeting, but Xi and Putin, both of whom have been criticized by the U.S. for their foreign and domestic policies, issued a joint statement underscoring their displeasure with "interference in the internal affairs" of other countries.

The joint statement proclaimed a new China-Russia strategic "friendship" that "has no limits" and no "forbidden areas of cooperation."

Stacie Goddard, the Mildred Lane Kemper Professor of Political Science who teaches great power rivalries at Wellesley College, says the move is designed to counter Washington's narrative that Moscow and Beijing are acting aggressively on Ukraine and Taiwan, by claiming that it is the U.S. that is interfering in their spheres of influence.

"What they're saying is that the United States is attempting to change the status quo," Goddard told VOA. "They're portraying themselves in many ways as standing up to a revisionist and aggressive United States."

Goddard added that in the past Beijing has been reluctant to appear to be acting directly in concert with Russia. "This is really a step towards making it clear, they are acting together," she added.

Service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces ride atop of a tank during military drills in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released Feb. 4, 2022. (Press service of the Joint Forces Operation/Handout via Reuters)

Escalating conflict

China's expressions of support for Russia come as Moscow's dispute with Ukraine threatens to escalate into armed conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone Friday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss Russia's military buildup along Ukraine's border.

He affirmed "the United States' unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty" and made clear the United States is willing to "impose swift and severe consequences on Russia if it chooses to escalate" the situation, according to a State Department statement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the State Department in Washington, Feb.1, 2022.

Blinken also met Friday with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in Washington for bilateral talks. In remarks at the start of the talks, he stressed the importance of the relationship between the two countries and thanked Poland for its leadership on NATO's eastern flank.

He said, "We strongly prefer that Russia choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue, but if it does not, we are fully prepared for the alternative."

On Thursday, a senior Biden administration official said the U.S. has information indicating that Russia has developed a plan to stage a false Ukrainian military attack on Russian territory and leverage it as a pretext for an attack against Ukraine.

Fabricating a video of such an attack is one of several options the Kremlin is formulating to give it an excuse to invade Ukraine, the official said.

"The video will be released to underscore a threat to Russia's security and to underpin military operations," said the official, who requested anonymity.

"This video, if released, could provide Putin the spark he needs to initiate and justify military operations against Ukraine," the official added.

The official said the Biden administration is disclosing specifics about Russia's alleged plans to "dissuade" Russia from carrying out such plans.

In an interview Thursday with MSNBC, U.S. deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer said, "We don't know definitively that this is the route they are going to take, but we know that this is an option under consideration."

Military personnel from the 82nd Airborne Division and 18th Airborne Corps board a C-17 transport plane for deployment to Eastern Europe, amid escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Feb. 3, 2022.

NATO welcomes more US troops

The Biden administration disclosed the intelligence after NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday welcomed U.S. plans to deploy more troops to Europe and said NATO is considering sending additional battle groups to the southeastern part of its alliance amid tensions along the Russia-Ukraine border.

The U.S. on Wednesday announced plans to dispatching 2,000 more troops to Europe, most of them to Poland, and move 1,000 troops from Germany to Romania to bolster NATO's eastern flank countries.

Stoltenberg told reporters that while NATO is preparing for the possibility that Russia may take military action, NATO remains ready to engage in "meaningful dialogue" and find a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

"NATO continues to call on Russia to de-escalate. Any further Russian aggression would have severe consequences and carry a heavy price," he said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that the U.S. deployment is heightening tensions in the region.

Belarusian military helicopters fly during the joint exercises of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus at a firing range in the Brest Region, Belarus, Feb. 3, 2022.

The United States and other Western allies have been preparing economic sanctions to level against Russia in hopes of persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull back the more than 100,000 troops Russia has near the border with Ukraine. Russia has denied it plans to invade.

Stoltenberg said Thursday there has been a "significant movement of Russian military forces into Belarus," Ukraine's northern neighbor, where they are taking part in joint military drills that began Thursday instead of later this month as originally planned.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attends a joint news conference with North Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 3, 2022.

"This is the biggest Russian deployment there since the Cold War," Stoltenberg said, referring to what he said were 30,000 troops, fighter jets and missile systems.

Russia has not disclosed how many troops or the amount of military hardware it has in Belarus.

Thursday's exercises, which are expected to continue until February 20, involved live fire, according to images released by the Belarusian defense minister. They also showed fighter jets in the sky and tanks firing and maneuvering.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu witnessed the exercises after arriving in Minsk Thursday, and he also met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Russia has demanded that NATO pull back troops and weapons deployed in eastern European member countries, and to make clear that Ukraine cannot join the 30-member military alliance.

NATO and Ukraine have rejected those demands, saying countries are free to pick their allies.

But Stoltenberg said Thursday that NATO is ready to talk to Russia about relations between the two sides, and about risk reduction, increased transparency and arms control.

EU plans united response

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday the 27-nation bloc is planning a response to letters Russia sent earlier this week to several EU members about its demand for security guarantees.

During a visit to Helsinki, von der Leyen told reporters, "We are united in the European Union and therefore it is clear that the response will mirror, will reflect that unity."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a joint news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 3, 2022.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Thursday he welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's offer to mediate the crisis and to host peace negotiations. Zelenskiy's comments came after the two leaders signed a free trade deal and other agreements while meeting in Kyiv.

Erdogan previously suggested Turkey, a NATO member that also has good relations with Russia, could act as a mediator.

Erdogan's visit to Ukraine is the latest in a series of visits to Kyiv by world leaders and diplomats to show support for Ukraine and try to advance a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

White House Dismissive of Putin – Xi Meeting (voanews.com)

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Xi-Putin summit: Russia inches closer to China as ‘new cold war’ looms

Fifty years after Nixon and Mao’s historic handshake, the geopolitical world order is again being reshaped

Vincent Ni and Andrew Roth

The Guardian, Thursday, 3 Feb 2022

When the leaders of China and Russia meet in Beijing this Friday shortly before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, observers of the bilateral relationship will be looking for insights into how this 21st century quasi-alliance is reshaping the postwar world order.

It was 50 years ago this month, on 21 February 1972, that the historic handshake between Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong changed the geometry of the cold war. Historians called the visit “the week that changed the world”. It later influenced Washington’s subsequent movement towards détente with Moscow.

Yet, half a century on, with talk of another cold war – this time between the US and China – on the rise, Moscow and Beijing are, instead, inching closer. Amid the unfolding crisis in Ukraine, Beijing last week publicly seconded Moscow’s “security concerns” regarding Nato. On Thursday, it released a statement saying its and Russia’s foreign ministers had coordinated their positions on regional issues of common concern, including Ukraine, Afghanistan and the Korean peninsular.

“This will be their 38th [meeting] since 2013, [and] is uniquely significant because of the foreign policy challenges each leader is facing at the moment,” David Shullman, senior director of the Global China Hub at the Atlantic Council, said of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

“Putin appreciates Chinese public expressions of support for Russia’s position on Ukraine that demonstrate the Kremlin is not isolated internationally,” he said. “For China, Putin’s visit is an important demonstration of support at a time when the US, UK, and other countries are undertaking a diplomatic boycott of the Games.”

A convoy of Russian armoured vehicles moves along a highway in Crimea. Photograph: AP

This week’s meeting will be Xi’s first in-person interaction with a foreign leader in nearly two years. China’s propaganda machine is already in full gear ahead of the event. In state media, the name of the Russian president tops the official list of foreign dignitaries. Earlier this week, the state news agency Xinhua in a long article extolled the friendship between the two countries.

“China-Russia leaders’ ‘Winter Olympics appointment’ opens a new chapter in the bilateral relations,” the headline declared. The article has since been republished by other major state-owned websites in the last few days.

The Xi-Putin meeting will be closely watched in Washington as well as other major western capitals. Inevitably, according to analysts, the issue of Ukraine will loom large. In 2014, in a show of defiance against fierce western criticism over the annexation of Crimea, Putin turned to Xi to look for an alternative. Beijing showed its support by signing a $400bn, 30-year gas deal.

As the crisis in Ukraine brews, Russia is once again facing international pressure and is seeking foreign allies in its standoff with the west. In the current situation, Russia “needs China much more than the other way around”, said Alexander Gabuev, the chair of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, during a roundtable discussion on Wednesday.

Describing the mood in Moscow, Gabuev said: “China is very pragmatic and has a lot of leverage … China’s bargaining position is strengthened day by day, so it’s better to sign a deal with China now rather than tomorrow.”

Putin will enter the meeting with Xi looking to do just that. The Kremlin is embarking on the rare foreign visit with a docket of 15 contracts and agreements it wants to sign with the Chinese leadership, including a joint statement that will “reflect the common views of Russia and China on key global issues, including security issues”.

It appears the Kremlin will seek formal Chinese support in its conflict with Nato countries.

Vladimir Putin in a videoconference with Xi Jinping in December. Photograph: Mikhail Metzel/AP Advertisement

“Beijing supports Russia’s demands on security guarantees, China shares the stance that security of one country cannot be ensured by means of damaging another country’s security,” said the Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, adding they were calling for the “creation of efficient mechanisms of ensuring security in Europe through negotiations”.

In an article published in the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Putin also noted joint efforts to expand payments in national currencies and create “mechanisms to offset the negative impact of unilateral sanctions”. US lawmakers have threatened to impose the “mother of all sanctions” if Russia launches a new invasion of Ukraine.

Putin will be accompanied by a handful of top diplomatic and energy officials, including his foreign and energy ministers and the Rosneft chief executive, Igor Sechin. That indicates that economic and energy cooperation are likely to be a focus of the talks on Friday.

Ushakov said the two sides would also discuss plans for the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which would allow Russia to redirect gas away from Europe via its controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline and sell it instead on the Chinese market. However, even if the two sides do strike an agreement, the pipeline would take years to build.

The summit will mark Putin’s third trip abroad since the outbreak of coronavirus in late 2019. The two leaders are expected to hold talks on the morning of 4 February and then have a private lunch that “will help them have a maximally open discussion about the most important international and bilateral issues”, Ushakov said.

Last month, Beijing announced that the bilateral trade between China and Russia reached nearly $147bn last year – more than twice the figure of $68bn back in 2015 after western sanctions. Last week, senior diplomats from both countries agreed to step up coordination on Asian affairs, in the latest move that signalled even closer ties amid western pressures.

A map shows the course of Nord Stream 2 on the exterior of a building close to the receiving station for the pipeline near Lubmin, Germany. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images Advertisement

“Both Xi and Putin will underscore (yet again) that their relationship is the best it’s been in history and that the two countries continue to deepen strategic and economic ties, with the subtext being that no amount of US-led efforts to derail their leadership or strategic interests will succeed,” said Shullman.

Prof Sharyl Cross, the director of the Kozmetsky Center at St Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, agreed. “The two leaders will emphasise their burgeoning bilateral security and economic ties and common perspectives on a range of global security issues presenting a challenge to American global influence and the liberal international order,” she said, adding that Xi and Putin were likely to also include discussion of the role of Nato in Europe.

Cross said both Moscow and Beijing would stand to benefit from division among democratic nations and the transatlantic security alliance in responding to the Ukraine conflict. “The United States and its allies should be thinking about how to avoid driving these two major powers closer and ways simultaneous challenges on the part of both Russia and China in different regions (Europe and Asia) might be managed,” she said.

But Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, downplayed the significance of the forthcoming meeting. He said he did not expect anything new to come out of it.

“China has said what it has said about recent events. Beijing’s statements can be seen as very much pro-Russia, but with some major reservations,” he said. “For example, China has never committed to any military involvement in case of a war. And likewise, despite Putin’s previous support for Beijing’s position on Taiwan, he had never committed to be involved militarily in case of a major conflict [between China and the US], either.”

For Shi, the type of foreign dignitaries that descended in Beijing this week is, instead, more telling about the current state of affairs on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s visit to Beijing. These leaders range from Putin to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

“From those who diplomatically boycotted the Winter Games and those who came to Beijing, we can see some indication that the world is indeed heading towards the direction of bi-polarisation.”

Xi-Putin summit: Russia inches closer to China as ‘new cold war’ looms | China | The Guardian 

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Meeting between Russian and Chinese leaders comes amid Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine

Putin, Xi Will Put Partnership Against U.S. on Display at Olympics

WSJ, February 4, 2022

When Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping hold a summit alongside the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics, on display will be a flourishing partnership that is already complicating U.S. foreign policy and influence around the world.

Mr. Putin is going to Beijing at a time of high tension with the West over Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine and his demands that the U.S. and its allies retreat from Eastern Europe. China, while calling for diplomacy, has offered backing for Moscow, urging the U.S. and Europe to address Russia’s security concerns and stop using military alliances to threaten others.

For Messrs. Putin and Xi, Friday will be their first in-person summit in two years after the Chinese leader stopped seeing foreign dignitaries because of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Putin will be the most prominent foreign leader at the Olympics after the U.S. and several allies declined to send high-level officials to protest China’s human-rights abuses.

After their talks, the leaders plan to release a joint statement laying out their common views on international and security issues, a Kremlin aide said. Both governments have billed the summit as a landmark in a partnership that has seen Russia and China cooperate on a widening array of matters: trade, energy, counterintelligence and, increasingly, diplomacy, defense, security and regional hot spots.

Chinese paramilitary police walking in formation on the Olympic Green in Beijing this week ahead of the start of the Winter Games.

Closer coordination between China and Russia, after decades of estrangement, complicates Biden administration strategies to isolate Mr. Putin and punish him and Russia with economic sanctions should Russian forces attack Ukraine. Over the longer term, the Beijing-Moscow entente could tie down U.S. military resources in Europe and East Asia, foiling a Biden administration plan to focus on China as the signal global security threat, and leave Washington off-balance as it tries to court partners around the world.

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“What’s driving them together is their common interest in undercutting the U.S.,” said Daniel Russel, a former senior official on Asian issues in the Obama administration. If the Ukraine crisis drives a wedge between the U.S. and its European allies, he said, it benefits Moscow and Beijing since “raising doubts about whether the U.S. can defend democracies helps them both.”

Cooperation between Russia and China appears to have limits. While both sides collaborate on defense, they have no formal alliance, and U.S. officials and military specialists said that, aside from joint exercises by their armed forces, the level of military partnership is difficult to determine.

Some Russians are concerned about China’s growing economic sway. Beijing is wary of a full-blown military conflict in Ukraine, Chinese security specialists said, given China’s business interests in Russia and Europe and an economy entwined with global trade and investment.

Messrs. Putin and Xi, who have cultivated domestic images as strong rulers, have built a partnership over the past decade animated by concerns the U.S. uses its pre-eminent global power to suppress Russia and China.

Watch: Putin Says U.S. and NATO Fail to Address Russia Security Demands YOU MAY ALSO LIKE UP NEXT 0:00 / 0:55 0:27 Watch: Putin Says U.S. and NATO Fail to Address Russia Security Demands Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that NATO and the U.S. had failed to address Russia’s demands to receive legally binding security guarantees in its formal response to Moscow delivered last week. Photo: Yuri Kochetkov/AFP/Getty Images

“President Xi Jinping and I have known each other for a long time, as good friends and politicians who hold largely the same views on addressing the world’s problems,” Mr. Putin said in an interview with state-run China Media Group, according to a transcript posted on the Kremlin’s website late Wednesday.

“Moscow and Beijing have a common understanding of the need to create a more just world order,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters Wednesday. “China shares the position that the security of one state cannot be ensured by compromising the security of another country.”

Chinese state news agency Xinhua on Wednesday described the China-Russia relationship as “a big ship featuring the highest degree of mutual trust, the highest level of coordination and the highest strategic value.”

China and Russia each face U.S. efforts to bulk up alliances and other partners to counter their more assertive foreign and military policies in parts of the world Beijing and Moscow regard as their spheres of influence. The U.S. is rallying Japan, Australia, India and others across the Indo-Pacific to check Beijing, while it tries to bolster the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other European partners against Russia’s renewed ambitions for influence.

“A lot of things the two countries are doing are a response to U.S. political, ideological and security pressures,” said Mingjiang Li, a China security-policy expert at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “There’s a common perception by China and Russia that the U.S. poses a serious and real threat to their respective national securities.”

Moscow and Beijing both welcomed the U.S. retreat last summer from Afghanistan, a part of the world China and Russia see as crucial to their security and, to China, important for energy and mineral resources. While the two also compete for influence in Central Asia, Beijing is willing to let Moscow lead on security for now, supporting Russia’s intervention last month to prop up Kazakhstan’s president amid antigovernment protests.

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Last week, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi rebuffed him. Mr. Wang criticized the Biden administration for not heeding China’s interests and chided the U.S. and its allies in NATO for expanding into Eastern Europe, an area of core strategic concern for Russia.

“All parties should completely abandon the Cold War mentality, and form a balanced, effective and sustainable European security mechanism through negotiations, with Russia’s legitimate security concerns being taken seriously and addressed,” Mr. Wang told Mr. Blinken, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s account.

As the world’s second-largest economy and a huge importer of oil and gas, China is already a major buyer of Russian energy and an investor in its economy. Beijing could choose to amp up that role, helping to prop up Russia in the face of potential U.S. sanctions by buying more energy resources, supplying semiconductors and other goods if the U.S. imposes export controls, and providing larger loans, according to Russian and Chinese international-affairs specialists.

“Russia has very few friends,” said Alexander Lukin, a political scientist in the International Relations Department at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics in Moscow. “So, to have such a strong friend as China, the second-largest economy in the world, on its side is important both politically and economically.”

China’s willingness to be Russia’s bulwark has grown in the aftermath of Russia’s previous invasion of Ukraine in 2014 when it annexed Crimea and fomented a rebellion by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. That move triggered Western sanctions costing Russia tens of billions of U.S. dollars, and it spurred Moscow and Beijing to conclude a long-stalled deal supplying China with Russian natural gas.

More than seven years on, China is Russia’s largest trading partner, with trade between the two countries rising to a record $147 billion last year. Mr. Putin has said he expects that figure to rise to $200 billion this year. Helping physical transport between China and Russia will be a rail bridge crossing Siberia’s Amur River that was completed last year.

A new rail bridge crossing Siberia’s Amur River is expected to boost trade between Russia and China.

PHOTO: YURI SMITYUK/ZUMA PRESS

Meanwhile, China’s yuan has become a larger part of Russia’s foreign-currency reserves, increasing to 14.2% in March 2018 from 5% the year before.

Analysts estimate that Russia’s state-owned gas producer Gazprom could deliver nearly 100 billion cubic meters in gas to China in the coming years, via the existing Power of Siberia pipeline in Russia’s Far East and a new project under consideration that would cross through Mongolia. Gazprom delivered about 175 billion cubic meters to Europe last year.

The potential new pipeline through Mongolia would deliver to China roughly 50 billion cubic meters, nearly the same amount that Germany would receive from Russia via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if the latter is certified, said Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

“It’s a very good symbolic move,” he said. “You sanction us? Then middle finger to you. We go to China.”

In their more than three dozen previous meetings, Messrs. Putin and Xi have been careful in their public remarks about directly challenging the U.S.

Mr. Xi also likely doesn’t want to be seen as approving a Russian attack on Ukraine, security specialists said; he is trying to stabilize the Chinese economy and prepare for a political meeting later this year that would endorse a third five-year term for him as Communist Party leader.

When Beijing last hosted the Olympics in 2008, Mr. Putin also attended the opening ceremony. Russian troops, meanwhile, flooded across the border into Georgia, marring Beijing’s turn in the public spotlight and angering Mr. Xi’s predecessor.

Still, officials in Mr. Xi’s government have said that the Biden administration is also failing to consider China’s interests, especially by increasing support for Taiwan and thereby, in Beijing’s eyes, raising the island’s resistance to political union with China.

Beijing has also bristled at criticisms by the U.S. and its allies over China’s crackdown on opposition activists in Hong Kong and the suppression of the Muslim Uyghur minority group in the country’s Xinjiang region—reasons behind Washington’s diplomatic boycott of the Olympics.

“Right now China also needs Russia as the only supporter for Chinese politics,” said Alexey Maslov, director of the Institute of Asia and Africa of Moscow State University. “Russia and China have found themselves partners for the global future.”

Putin, Xi Will Put Partnership Against U.S. on Display at Olympics - WSJ

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