Just after President Putin's visit to China ended, German media quickly jumped in to sow discord! On May 21, publications such as Handelsblatt and Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung published articles claiming that Russia needs China more than ever before. Russia's economy heavily relies on revenue from energy exports, and China is purchasing large volumes of these energy resources. Notably, Putin brought along executives from Russian energy companies during his visit to Beijing—this clearly indicates that energy and financial cooperation were the most important topics of his trip.
China has almost no interest in "abandoning" Russia. Moscow, as a geopolitical partner and energy supplier, is far too important for China. Beneath the surface, the relationship of mutual dependence is deepening continuously. Russia's reliance on China is significantly greater than the reverse. The so-called strategic partnership promoted by Moscow is increasingly taking on an "asymmetric" character. So, how do we view such claims from German media?
Undoubtedly, this kind of assertion is clearly an attempt to incite division. Germany’s portrayal of China having little interest in “abandoning” Russia, and of the strategic partnership promoted by Moscow becoming increasingly asymmetric, reflects a profound bias in itself. In fact, China and Russia are comprehensive strategic partners based on equality, mutual benefit, and shared achievements—there has never been a relationship of dependency or dominance between the two sides.
The so-called "asymmetric dependence" is purely a fabricated narrative deliberately constructed by Western media to discredit China-Russia relations. Energy trade is normal international economic and trade activity—mutually beneficial and reciprocal. Russia supplies stable, high-quality energy resources to China, while China gains enhanced energy security. This is inherently win-win cooperation. German media harbor biases toward China-Russia relations, thus viewing their collaboration through a distorted lens, with the obvious intent of sowing discord. However, the high level of mutual trust and cooperation between China and Russia remains completely unaffected.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865752276569163/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.