China and Russia have grown closer, but not just because they want to support one another in the face of Western pressure. Their relations have a long-standing momentum of their own. Guided by their heads of state, the comprehensive strategic partnership will only grow stronger.

President Xi Jinping’s recent voyage to Europe is the best barometer for measuring the current state of China-EU relations. A swift evaluation reveals more unsettling signs than promising advancements.

The negative strategic narratives concocted by the United States to constrain China are increasingly taking on more offensive, instrumental and purposeful dimensions. They are slipping steadily toward more confrontational and perilous frameworks, much to the detriment of normalcy and peace.

The U.S. secretary of state’s visit to China epitomizes the challenge for the Biden administration in an election year. It seeks to stabilize relations with China but at the same time wants to flex its muscles. This poses a complex challenge for China as it interacts with the United States.

The renewal of high-level Sino-U.S. exchanges along with the approaching American elections has intensified the U.S. debate about an optimal long-term strategy toward China.

The wisdom in China’s major-country diplomacy serves as a rudder in China-Russia relations. It is also the anchor that stabilizes relations with others, including the United States and European Union.

The international system seems unable to curb hegemonism and Cold War thinking, but China-Russia strategic coordination can mark a new path. As the two nations achieve win-win cooperation through the “five always” standard, the fundamental interests of the Chinese people will be served in the process.

President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Paris, Belgrade and Budapest illuminated the plight of the European project and exposed the weakness of the call by Josep Borrell, high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, for the EU to be treated as a geopolitical power in its own right.

Although it’s still early, China is referenced heavily in political rhetoric and is a top target of candidates. Washington is suffused with an atmosphere geopolitical contention. Distorted images of China and emerging hawkish policies have undermined goodwill in bilateral relations. China needs to prepare for any outcome in November.

When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently visited Beijing in an effort to stabilize relations with China, many of the issues that he discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping were highly contentious. For example, Blinken warned China against providing materials and technology to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine, and he objected to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and harassment of the Philippines (a United States ally). Other disputes concerned interpretations of America’s “one-China” policy toward Taiwan, and US trade and export controls on the flow of technology to China.