From Oil to Technology: Why Japan Is Turning Its Attention Back to Azerbaijan

The official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China on May 19–20 was far more than another demonstration of Sino-Russian partnership. Talks between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping revealed that Moscow and Beijing are steadily shaping their own model of global order — one designed as an alternative to the Western-led international system dominated by the United States and its allies.

Every time tensions rise around the Strait of Hormuz, global markets react almost instinctively: oil prices surge, governments grow anxious and investors rush toward safe-haven assets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday evening for his first foreign trip of the year — a visit intended to demonstrate the strategic depth of the partnership between Moscow and Beijing. Yet the atmosphere surrounding the trip also revealed how dramatically the international landscape around Russia has changed.

The state visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to China concluded on Friday with a rare display of diplomatic warmth between Washington and Beijing. Yet beneath the carefully choreographed ceremony remained deep structural tensions capable of once again pushing the world’s two largest powers toward confrontation.