By the Editor – At the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, President Putin declared: “friendship between the two states [Russia and China] with no limits, no forbidden areas of cooperation.” The author explores how realpolitik might be refocussing the PRC’s mind following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Having first been asked to write this article shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, my impression on the likely geopolitical consequences was very different (and much more pessimistic) than it is now, just a few weeks later. I had been convinced that Russia would invade Ukraine, but…
