China's peace plan was "obviously very strongly in Russia's favour", she said, adding that Beijing was ready to give Moscow "time to end the war in its favour", albeit with implicit backing rather than pro-active support.
"Certainly, Putin would have wished for more - especially on a gas deal with China - but the optics of the visit were so important to him that he accepts Russia's increasing dependence on China," she said.
"GIFT TO PUTIN"
The visit was "perceived by the non-Western world as a counterweight to the decision" of the ICC, said Alexander Baunov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
It's "as if the Chinese leader had broken the curse on Putin" after the warrant was issued, he said.
Sam Greene, director of democratic resilience at the CEPA think tank in Washington, described the visit as a "gift" to Putin - unless there is a new twist like telephone talks between Xi and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though none have been announced.
It is "essentially permission from Beijing to keep fighting. It is, though, Xi's only gift to Putin", Greene wrote on Twitter.
China has not applied Western sanctions against Moscow, instead increasing its imports of hydrocarbons from Russia and maintaining economic interests in Russia during the invasion.
Xi's recent peace proposals have largely garnered scepticism on the West, in particular the United States.
For Antoine Bondaz, a specialist in Chinese foreign policy at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS), "what is at stake today for China in the war in Ukraine is not the future of Ukraine... It's the Sino-American rivalry and the desire to discredit Western countries".
Xi's trip to Moscow represents "anything but distancing" by China from Russia, he added.
"MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE"
While Xi and Putin sought to emphasise their friendship and respect in their meetings - addressing each other constantly as "dear" - China is very much the senior partner.
Its population and economy dwarf those of its neighbour, where thinly populated regions in the Russian far east keep a wary eye on booming Chinese megacities on the other side of the Amur river that forms part of their border.
Xi's support is crucial for Putin as he insists that it is only the West that opposes his invasion of Ukraine, and not the international community as a whole.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQveGktamlucGluZy1tb3Njb3ctdmlzaXQtcHV0aW4tZW1ib2xkZW5pbmctcmlza3MtZnVydGhlci0zMzY5Mzgx0gEA?oc=5
2023-03-23 13:52:42Z
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