OP-ED

Walter Russell Mead: Why Russia and China are joining forces

By Walter Russell Mead.

Published July 30, 2019 at 9:56 am

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin attend a group photo session at the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries on the sidelines of the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province on Sept. 5, 2017.

Photo by AFP

Russian and Chinese military aircraft probed South Korean and Japanese air defenses last week, leading the South Koreans to fire more than 300 warning shots before the intruders departed.

This was just the latest manifestation of a deepening alliance between Russia and China. James Dobbins, Howard Shatz and Ali Wyne described the emerging alignment in an April essay in the Diplomat.