Editor’s note for March 21, 2023

A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.

My thoughts today:

Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 met Vladimir Putin again in Moscow today. The three-day visit is the main topic of Chinese state media today (see Xinhua Chinese or this analysis of People’s Daily coverage).

The optics weren’t great for Putin: he came off as short, poor, and desperate. Xi came off as rich, powerful, and able to grant favors to his beleaguered northern neighbor, with whom his country still has territorial disputes.

They talked about Ukraine, but it does not seem that Xi and Putin are willing to say or do anything that the Ukrainians would be happy with.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said today, that “Kyiv had suggested to China that Beijing join a Ukrainian peace formula to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, but that it was still waiting for an answer.”