Russia’s war in Ukraine has put China in a somewhat precarious position. Russia is an important energy (trade) partner to Beijing. Russia’s total trade with China pales in comparison to Beijing’s trade with the U.S. and the EU. Beijing has made efforts to moderate its stance and move closer to European and Western positions. For several years, China and Russia have been building an alternative world order to that offered by the U.S. and its allies, as analysed in full in my new book on the global oil markets . This was expedited by the unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. in May 2018 from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran, its withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, and its ‘end of combat mission’ in Iraq in December 2021, among other factors. China’s strategy to achieve this new world order is one based on incremental advances of […]