Those who scoffed at deepening Sino-Russian ties will pay the price

The 'no limits' partnership has been beneficial to Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.

- Ravi Velloor

Until at least 2023, if you talked to top brass at USIndoPacom about the Russians and Chinese getting together you'd hear a sniff; behind all that bonhomie, the narrative went, is deep distrust between Moscow and Beijing. There is little for the US, or anyone else for that matter, to worry about.

What about the massive military exercises Russia conducts in the East, some involving the Chinese military as well that have implications for Taiwan? Ah, that's meant to send a message to Beijing as much as to anyone else about Russian military capability.

What about the "no limits" partnership the two announced in February 2022, just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Oh, we believe President Vladimir Putin didn't specifically discuss his invasion plans with President Xi Jinping, and the Chinese were as surprised as anyone else when it came.

In February 2023, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told a CNN town hall hosted by Fareed Zakaria that any talk of Russia and China being unbreakable allies was "a cartoonish notion".

Around the same time, this column talked of Western diplomats hinting at what appeared to be quiet moves by Beijing to help Russia rebuild its war machine. Surprise, surprise! Today, these accusations are commonplace and publicly made.

Thanks in part to help from Beijing, Moscow has rebuilt its war machine. The war itself is going badly for Ukraine, even as it awaits the long-promised aid from the US that was held up in Congress. Officially, China says it supports peace in Ukraine and is neutral in the conflict.

If proof were needed for delusional Americans to do a rethink on so much they had taken for granted about the Sino-Russian relationship, they only needed to watch this week's developments in Beijing.