It’s been said that China’s relationship with the United States will be one of the defining factors of the 21st Century. Relations between the two superpowers have been strained in recent years over a host of issues, including trade, human rights, spying allegations and Taiwan. With China’s National People’s Congress underway – the country’s foreign minister suggested the United States was trying to ‘suppress’ his country and stir up trouble in Taiwan. Wang Yi also defended Beijing’s close relationship with Moscow. During much of the Cold War, Soviet Russia and Communist China were at odds. But especially since the start of the Ukraine War, the two authoritarian neighbors have been forging deeper ties – and appear to be positioning themselves as a geopolitical counterweight to the West. For more on this, we talk to Journalist Fabian Kretschmer, who is following the National People’s Congress in Beijing. And we talk to Velina Tchakarova. She’s an expert on Sino-Russian relations, and founder of the geopolitical consulting firm FACE.
