By Iain Fraser - Consultant Geopolitical Editor, Malaga City, Spain

GEOPoliticalMatters.com

The Russo-Sino pact, recently defined by the Council on Foreign Relations as while not [yet] formal treaty allies they call each other strategic partners and have grown closer in recent years with China recently declaring that the ‘Sino-Russian friendship has no limitation and no ceiling.’

The reality shows that the Beijing-Moscow partnership actually has quite a lot of limitations and a low ceiling. Beijing will not sacrifice its strategic interests for Moscow; it is only willing to lend moral and rhetorical support. 

However my analysis of this unholy alliance paint a picture very much skewed to Beijing rather than Moscow. China’s diplomatic outreach is more aimed at advancing Beijing’s Indo-Pacific interests than drumming up support for Moscow however China launched an international diplomatic campaign in support of Putin´s Russia.

Of course the Russian Invasion of Ukraine presented a significant strategic challenge to the Chinese leadership however, China maintains on the side-lines that Russian President Vladimir Putin "tricked" China into creating an image that China supported the Russian invasion, even though Beijing neither anticipated nor endorsed the war. 

Proof of the one-way street syndrome began the latest round of Diplomatic interventions by China. It embarked on the campaign by blaming NATO expansion for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In more than half of its diplomatic meetings, China urged the West to “understand Russia’s legitimate security concerns” and “build a sustainable European security system through negotiation.” In describing the cause of the war in a video summit with U.S. President Joe Biden, Xi Jinping said “one hand cannot clap,” which blamed the United States and NATO for ignoring Russian concerns. Learn More /... Register Free to have our full analysis sent to your inbox or smart device.