Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un may have stolen the spotlight today, but their American sparring partner President Donald Trump looms large over events in Beijing.
The image of the three strongmen leaders walking shoulder to shoulder ahead of the massive military parade was a carefully choreographed show of unity between three powers who have shown an eagerness to upend the US-led world order.
That was not lost on Trump, who quickly accused the trio of conspiring against the US, in a Truth Social post.
Their presence in Beijing comes less than three weeks after Trump rolled out the red carpet for Putin at a US airbase in Alaska, and as Moscow’s missiles continue to pound Ukraine.
Trump’s on-again, off-again overtures to the Russian strongman seem to have had no impact the so-called “no limits” partnership between Russia and China.
That relationship has only deepened in recent years, as cross-border trade has hit new heights. Meanwhile, both countries continue to engage in security cooperation, most recently with the announcement that they conducted their first-ever joint submarine patrol in the Pacific.
Analysts say the glue that binds these once-hostile neighbors ever closer is their shared perception of the US as a threat.
“There’s a famous saying in the Chinese policy community,” says Sun from the Stimson Center. “China and Russia can share miseries but not happiness.”
China, faced with a slumping domestic economy, is also grappling with its own long and painful trade war with the US.
Meanwhile, Russia, with its much smaller economy and the international isolation triggered by its invasion of Ukraine, desperately needs a hand from China, turning Moscow into the junior partner in this relationship.
Their governments have chafed for years at the global dominance the US has enjoyed since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
And President Trump’s chaotic foreign policy, which has included attacks on longtime allies and the almost-overnight dismantling of global free trade, presents China, the world’s second largest economy, with fresh opportunity.
