China's "No Limits" Friendship with Russia is Beginning to Crumble

In a joint communiqué on 4 February 2022, China and Russia stated that: “Friendship between the two States [China and Russia] has no limits, there are no forbidden areas of cooperation.” This followed the first in-person meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for nearly two years, at the opening of the Winter Olympics ceremony in Beijing. Just over two weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine in what most observers at the time believed would be a conflict lasting two or three days before…