Only days after Donald Trump wrapped up his first visit to China since 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, highlighting the strength of the growing alliance between Moscow and Beijing.

The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China has triggered global discussion over Beijing’s diplomatic priorities, especially when compared to the reception earlier given to US President Donald Trump.

The ambitions of the Trump-Xi summit were limited because the economic relationship between the United States and China is increasingly shaped by strategic rivalry.

The relationship endures despite a power imbalance, with both sides recognising that it is too important to fail.

Moscow ​and Beijing will ensure safety and analyse risks when increasing Russian meat ‌exports to China, they said in a joint declaration on Wednesday after a recent outbreak of cattle disease in Siberian regions.

Property prices in Shanghai, in particular, are rebounding, but the national market still faces an enormous overhang — 90 million empty or unfinished apartments.

J APAN’S POST-WAR manufacturing miracle provided a template for China to copy. Japan’s “lost decades” after 1990 served as a cautionary tale to avoid. Since the covid-19 p