The Chinese leader’s alignment with Putin would have sat awkwardly with previous leaders, who understood China’s best interests were served by avoiding costly entanglements.
Although Russia does not need Chinese military assistance in any potential invasion of Ukraine, Beijing’s political and economic backing is encouraging for Putin.
A strong turnout by Chinese teams during the 2022 Winter Olympics could help build national pride in China — and, in turn, help Xi Jinping’s bid for a third term this year.
The International Olympic Committee’s position is clear. Human rights be damned. Refugees be damned. The Games must go on. The rest is window dressing.
The western media has been reporting on Xi Jingping’s supposed ideological turn on bringing prosperity to all of China’s people. But his rule has seen sustained and large tax cuts on the wealthy.
New school textbooks in China focus less on the Chinese Communist Party and more on its figurehead Xi Jinping. The growing cultivation of a personality cult is reminiscent of the days of Mao Zedong.
The meeting of the leaders of the world’s most powerful countries hit all the right diplomatic notes, but there are still vast differences and disagreements to work through.
It is reasonable to assume Xi has close supporters within the party leadership. However, they are not as visible, for the most part, as was the case for Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
History will weigh heavily on the meeting in Beijing this week, which will affirm the Chinese president’s power and outline the political agenda for the coming years.