His arrival Xi Jinping the visit to Moscow is the most significant visit by a foreign leader since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. After weeks of rumors, the Chinese president arrived in the Russian capital on a three-day official visit. Putin and Xi over the past two 24 hours have demonstrated their friendship to the international community while presenting a clear common front towards the West and especially the US.

The Russian president and the Chinese leader met yesterday and today in the Russian capital, presenting their plans to deepen Sino-Russian political and economic cooperation, sending a strong signal to the West.

An uncertain future for China’s peace plan

However, when the leaders completed their formal negotiations, there was no visible progress on the Chinese peace plan in Ukraine.

Xi presented his visit to Moscow as the beginning of a “new chapter” that would further strengthen Sino-Russian relations. This visit was presented by the Chinese side as part of a bold initiative aimed at shaping a new world order. In the same context, Xi invited Putin to visit China later this year.

However, at the same time that Xi stood by Putin, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was making a surprise trip to Ukraine.

In a highly symbolic move, just days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin charging him with war crimes, Kishida visited Butsu, north of Kiev, where last year, allegedly, Russian atrocities , hundreds of Ukrainian civilians were killed.

Sino-Russian “fires” against the US

In an article in China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper, the Russian president claims that “US policy” towards Russia, China and “all those who disobey US orders” is becoming “more and more harsh and aggressive.” .

“There is no universal model of governance and world order in which the last word remains with one country,” Xi notes, in turn, in an article he published in the Russian state RIA Novosti news agency.

To some extent, the meeting of the two most prominent authoritarian leaders in the universe it signals the hardening of the ideological axiswrites Isaan Tharoor in Washington Post. Putin and Xi have their own vision of a new world order that will not have room for alleged American hegemony. Both denounce in person or through their mouthpieces what they call American hypocrisy. Both contend that the United States is interfering in matters it shouldn’t.

“Beijing refuses to condemn (including the Russian) invasion, blames the US for the war (including in Ukraine) and criticizes Western sanctions… Washington Post pages.

While the West seeks to isolate Russia amid the war in Ukraine, China’s influence over Moscow has therefore increased.

Beijing and Moscow agree that the world order in its current form is unfair, illogical and imperfect. However, China and Russia approach this existing status quo in very different ways, notes Zhao Long of the Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS). “China is focusing on reform and improvement rather than starting over,” Zhao Long continues.

Chinese officials and analysts may not approve of Russia’s behavior (including in Ukraine), but they are accustomed to Putin, who by necessity assigns Russia the role of China’s lesser partner on the world stage, comments Isaan Tarur.

“Russian leaders love to highlight the unprecedented strategic cooperation between Russia and China,” writes Alexandra Prokopenko in Carnegie Politika, the Russia and Eurasia blog of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. However, in reality, this cooperation strengthens Moscow’s dependence on Beijing.

Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Eurasia Center in Russia, warns that there may come a time when Beijing will use its increased influence with Moscow to extract concessions or concessions from Russia. Gabuev claims, for example, that the Chinese side could in the future ask the Russians to grant it access to its naval bases in the Arctic or change its attitude towards (rivaling Beijing) India.

“China is simply content to increase its growing geo-economic influence on Russia, providing discounts on (i.e. Russian) hydrocarbon exports and capturing (i.e. with Chinese products) the (i.e. Russian) market … Maybe, but this is only it is only a matter of time before China demands greater political loyalty for helping to keep the Putin regime alive,” writes Alexander Gabuev in Economist.