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A bolder Xi goes to Moscow, but will continue walking a tightrope

Too close an embrace of Putin could hurt China’s efforts to assert its global leadership

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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping via a video link at the Kremlin on Dec 30, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping via a video link at the Kremlin on Dec 30, 2022.

PHOTO: AFP

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- When President Xi Jinping arrives in Moscow on Monday

to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin

even as the war in Ukraine rages on, he would be there for “friendship, cooperation and peace”.

It has been nearly four years since Mr Xi was there, and a year since he publicly

elevated China’s relationship with Russia to one with “no limits”

– a declaration that was surely not music to the ears of American policymakers and security strategists.

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