When wanting something from a system, knowing how to get it without disqualifying yourself from other options is one way. There's no doubt they'll fight like hell.
More important, they matched that show of unity with substance: a remarkable joint statement, running more than 5,000 words, that can be described only as a blueprint for combined confrontation with the United States. The two countries endorsed each other’s foreign policy wish lists, with Russia affirming China’s opposition to “any forms of independence of Taiwan” and China denouncing “further enlargement of NATO.” China agreed to buy $117.5 billion worth of oil and gas from Russia.
Though not quite a green light from Beijing for Russian aggression against Ukraine, which was not mentioned by name, the statement signals that, if Russia invades, China will help Mr. Putin withstand the crippling economic sanctions that the United States and its allies plan to impose. In fact, the document says, there are “no limits” to the two’s “friendship” and “no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation,” suggesting that it could some day extend into intelligence sharing and weapons development.
Not since the early Cold War and the alliance between Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong have Moscow and Beijing pledged so openly — and comprehensively — to cooperate in world affairs, during what the Xi-Putin joint statement called “a new era of rapid development and profound transformation.” For perhaps the first time in modern history, the West faces a Russia-China pair, both of which are not only unremittingly hostile but also strong militarily, modern technologically, solvent economically and stable politically.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/07/putin-xi-the-dictators-meet-at-olympics/
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