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

- Tan Dawn Wei

BEIJING 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.

But that was before Mr Putin sent his troops into Ukraine, and before the United States said it had information that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia. That was also before China-Russia trade hit a record of 1.28 trillion yuan (S$249 billion) in 2022, an increase of 30 per cent from the year earlier, thanks in part to Western sanctions over Ukraine.

From Washington to Brussels to Tokyo, the optics of Mr Putin in the Kremlin fawning over Mr Xi who has called the Russian leader his "best friend" - will not go down well.

Mr Xi's visit has also come hot on the heels of unprecedentedly blunt remarks about the US and its allies.

At a meeting with top national advisers at the start of the 2023 parliamentary session, he took an unusually direct aim at the US, which he blamed for leading a campaign of "containment, blockade and suppression" against China, "bringing unprecedented and serious challenges to our development".

In his decade as China's leader, Mr Xi has, in his published and public speeches, only obliquely referenced the US as among "certain countries" when criticising its actions, leaving the direct name-calling to officials lower down the rung.