(EDM) China will host a huge military parade in Beijing on September 3, and President Vladimir Putin will be in attendance—returning President Xi Jinping’s earlier gesture of Sino-Russian partnership, which the Chinese head of state expressed as the top guest of honor at the parade in Moscow on May 9. Yet, this past year’s pompous Red Square celebrations of the Soviet victory in World War II only illuminated Russia’s sad international isolation today. And the carefully planned ceremony in Beijing comes as China experiences its own unexpected and potentially severe turmoil. Putin has pinned so much hope on upgrading Russia’s not-quite-alliance with China that he cannot afford a pragmatic evaluation of accomplishments and setbacks. He even instructed his pliant head of government, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, to make yet another visit to the disputed Kuril Islands (seeEDM, July 31)—knowing full well that Japan would have to issue strong protests, but also knowing that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe opted not to attend the Beijing parade (Vedomosti, Moscow Echo, August 24). […]
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