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China-Russia relations
ChinaDiplomacy

Xi and Putin vow mutual support, but military backing unlikely, analysts say

  • Leaders of China and Russia agree to expand cooperation in areas such as trade and agriculture, but no mention of armed forces
  • The powers insist their partnership is not an alliance, suggesting their collaboration will ‘stay short of joint military operations’, security expert says

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan on Friday. Photo: AP
Cyril Ip
In their first face-to-face meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to support each other on “issues concerning their respective core interests”, but analysts say the chance of the two powers defending each other militarily remains unlikely.
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Putin addressed his Chinese counterpart as “Comrade Xi Jinping, my dear friend” during their reunion on Thursday, while Xi reciprocated by calling Putin his “old friend”, according to the Kremlin’s readout.
The two agreed on expanding “pragmatic cooperation”, including in trade, agriculture and connectivity, but left out military cooperation, with Putin acknowledging Beijing’s “questions and concerns” about the Ukraine crisis.

“China is ready to work with Russia in extending strong support to each other on issues concerning their respective core interests,” Xi was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying, without referring to Ukraine.

According to S. Mahmud Ali, associate fellow at the University of Malaya’s Institute of China Studies, China has historically described matters of territorial integrity and jurisdictional claims as “core interests”, but Russia has not used this particular phrasing.

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Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin speak in person for first time since Russia invaded Ukraine

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin speak in person for first time since Russia invaded Ukraine

“It can be surmised that both states consider certain aspects of vital national interests as ‘core interests’ which effectively define their strategic ‘red lines’, whose violation by third parties – in this case, the United States – would not be countenanced and would be counteracted,” said Ali.

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Ali said China and Russia perceived “fundamental threats to their national interests and respective sovereign agency” within a unipolar system, leading them to deepen ties “in a defensive dyad”. He added that China had developed a “grand strategic vision” of a multipolar world, which was “utterly different” from that of the United States.

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