China shows unity with Russia and North Korea, but divisions linger

Xi's embrace of Putin, Kim sent a powerful message, but those relationships remain, for now, far short of a military or political alliance

- Yaroslav Trofimov

The pageantry of China's Xi Jinping, flanked by leaders of fellow nuclear powers Russia and North Korea as intercontinental ballistic missiles rolled through flag-waving crowds on Tiananmen Square, marked a new phase in the redrawing of the international order.

No longer circumspect about supporting his two rogue neighbors, Xi flaunted Beijing's growing links with Moscow and Pyongyang—both of them subjected to Western sanctions, both of them engaged in a bloody war against Ukraine and both of them potentially useful to China in a possible conflict with the U.S.

Despite becoming tighter, those relationships remain—for now at least—far short of an actual military or political alliance that could impose its will on the Eurasian landmass, the world's wealthiest and most populous region.

"China is very cautious about working with these two countries. Unlike what is depicted in the West as them being allies, China is not in the same camp. Its view of warfare and security issues is very different from theirs," said Tang Xiaoyang, chair of the department of international relations at Tsinghua University, pointing out that Beijing hasn't fought a war for more than four decades. "What China wants is stability on its borders."

The gap between Beijing's aspirations and those of its junior partners, however, is clearly narrowing, Western diplomats and China watchers say. How fast and to what extent those contradictions could be bridged will determine the shape of the international system that is emerging after President Trump upended Washington's network of alliances in Asia and Europe.