China, Russia eye closer friendship

This is apropos a Business Recorder news item "China, Russia eye closer friendship amid tensions with West" carried by the newspaper on Sunday. It has been reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have promised ever-closer cooperation and oversaw a series of deals as the two countries deepen ties in the face of growing tensions with the West.
"Russia and China stick to points of view which are very close to each other or are almost the same in the international arena," Putin was quoted as saying. That Moscow-Beijing have been maintaining closer relations even after the demise of the Soviet Union is a strong case in point. Both the countries that previously constituted almost entire communist world have been witnessing growing tensions in relation to their relations with the West. The successor state to the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation has earned West's hostility because of its highly controversial handling of the Ukraine crisis. Insofar as China is concerned, the West is wary of Beijing's alleged aggressive approach to the South China Sea disputes. Unlike China, however, Russia is no great global economic power. This is one of the principal differences between two neighbours. The West's approach to these two countries is also premised on this reality.