A week after Donald Trump was greeted in Beijing by well-orchestrated crowds of flag-waving schoolchildren, it was Vladimir Putin’s turn to pay a visit to China’s Red Emperor. Protocol-watchers spotted a distinctly lower level of pomp and circumstance afforded to Putin than to Trump – though Kremlin media were quick to emphasize that this was a working meeting, the latest of over 40 Putin-Xi summits over the last two decades. 

Both sides paid formal homage to the ongoing strength of the Dragon-Bear alliance. Xi observed that relations between Beijing and Moscow were at “the highest level of comprehensive strategic partnership,” as he called on both countries to oppose “all unilateral bullying” in the international arena. Putin, quoting from his familiar playbook, also claimed that countries’ relationship were at an “unprecedentedly high level,” and observed that Moscow remained a “reliable energy supplier” amid the ongoing Middle East crisis.

Below the surface, though, it’s clear that Russia’s status even as a junior partner in the alliance is shrinking, while China’s is rising. Whether a recent report in the Financial Times that Xi told Trump that Putin could come to regret his war on Ukraine true or not (China officially denies it), it is abundantly clear that economically and diplomatically Moscow is becoming ever more dependent on Beijing. As a plaintive piece in the........

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