Russia, China Ties Reaffirmed Before Putin-Biden Geneva Summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden both downplayed expectations on their upcoming meeting on Wednesday, and Chinese experts said the most significant expectation for Biden in the meeting in Geneva is to stabilize US-Russia relations and split China-Russia ties as much as he could, but this won't work anyway.

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Biden's recent trip in Europe has been focused primarily on the topic of China, and observers have summarized a mission list for the U.S. president: to show a common from in the West; to declare the return of the U.S. to the international arena; to engage with Putin for easing tensions so that the U.S. could focus on competition with China. However, world leaders also have questions for Biden: America is back, but for how long? Why should they follow the order of a superpower that lacks consistency and certainty? 

On the contrary, China and Russia's politics have much more certainty and consistency. In NBC News' exclusive interview on Friday, Russian President Putin said that "we have developed a strategic partnership relationship - between Russia and China that previously had not been achieved in the history of our nations, a high level of trust and cooperation in all areas: in politics, in the economy, in the area of technology.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at Tuesday's press conference that "We highly appreciate President Putin's positive remarks on China-Russia relations. Indeed, China and Russia are united like a mountain, and our friendship is unbreakable," and "Sky is the limit for down-to-earth China-Russia cooperation, and we are full of confidence in the development of bilateral relations."

In an exclusive interview with Russian President Vladimir  Putin, NBC News devoted much of it to questions about China, and Keir Simmons tried to make Putin at least say a few bad things about China but failed. Such attempts made by Simmons and US policymakers look extremely hilarious, useless, and too obvious, said Chinese analysts. 

"As the structural conflicts between Russia and US are being intensified in recent years, the meeting may reach some consensus on non-principle questions, but will not exert great influence to promote bilateral relations," Li Xing, director of the Eurasian Studies Center at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Li noted that those structural contradictions, such as geopolitics, human rights, and arms control, cannot be addressed quickly. The world has already seen that Russia-US relations did not get any better despite the change in US governments. 

In response to NBC's questions, Putin also said, "we (China and Russia) are neighboring countries. One does not choose one's neighbors. We are pleased with the unprecedentedly high level of our relationship as it has evolved over the last few decades, and we cherish it, just like our Chinese friends cherish it, which we can see."