Moscow and Beijing Against a Turbulent World

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.

U.S. President Donald Trump Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping Xi Jinping sought on the first day of the American leader’s state visit to China to demonstrate readiness to stabilize relations between the world’s two largest economies. However, the talks exposed deep disagreements over Taiwan, Iran, global trade, and the architecture of international security.