What does Xi Jinping want from Vladimir Putin?
Big questions loomed behind the Chinese leader’s trip to Moscow
Ever since the second world war global politics has been moulded by the “strategic triangle” between America, China and Russia. Co-ordination between Mao Zedong and Josef Stalin in the early 1950s fuelled American determination to halt the spread of communism. That led to America fighting wars in Korea and Vietnam, its commitment to defend Taiwan, and many proxy conflicts elsewhere.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Seizing the opportunity”
International
March 25th 2023From the March 25th 2023 edition
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America’s self-isolating president
No, Donald Trump’s Putin-wooing is not like Nixon going to China

Can Europe confront Vladimir Putin’s Russia on its own?
An independent army, air force and nuclear bomb would come at a high price

Australia prepares for a lonelier, harsher world
The country has long relied on America for security and China for its prosperity. Those two pillars are wobbling
Will it be Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow?
How Donald Trump’s about-turn in Europe will affect Asia
Donald Trump is junking the transatlantic alliance
Europe has been left scrambling after an attack on the partnership that kept the peace for nearly 80 years
China’s stunning new campaign to turn the world against Taiwan
Seventy countries have recently backed “all Chinese efforts” to take the island