Wall Street Journal reports Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized Western actions that weaken global "strategic stability" and infringe on Beijing's and Moscow's interests in joint statements that followed a one-day bilateral meeting in Beijing on Saturday. The statements outlined Chinese and Russian consensus on a range of global military, economic and diplomatic issues, and underscored a deepening partnership between Beijing and Moscow against their geopolitical rivals in the West. Russia has drawn closer to China following Western sanctions imposed in 2014 over Moscow's actions against Ukraine, and Beijing abstained from a U.N. General Assembly vote that called on nations not to recognize the annexation of Crimea. Analysts say China may seek some Russian reciprocation given Beijing's own diplomatic difficulties in recent weeks. In the Saturday statements, China and Russia appeared to offered each other diplomatic backing over issues where they have faced major strategic differences with the U.S. and other Western governments. 

Forbes's contributor Tim Daiss writes that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, never one for a loss of words, told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Japan has the capacity to acquire nuclear weapons "virtually overnight." Biden made his disclosure while giving a speech at a Public Broadcasting Service program aired on Monday. Biden said he had urged Xi to exert influence on North Korea so it will abandon its missile and nuclear weapons developments. Referring to North Korea's recent nuclear test and missile launches in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Biden said that if China and the U.S. fail to take effective action against North Korea, "What happens if Japan, who could go nuclear tomorrow? They have the capacity to do it virtually overnight." Biden did not say when his conversation with Xi took place. Biden said that China had the single greatest ability to influence North Korea, adding that North Korea is building nuclear weapons that can strike as far away the U.S. mainland. "And I say, so we're going to move up our defense system," the vice president added, referring to the U.S. plan to deploy THADD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), an advanced missile interception system, in South Korea. Biden quoted Xi as saying, "Wait a minute, my military thinks you're going to try to circle us." 

Financial Times says that China's newest development bank is poised to extend its lending activities beyond Asia to Africa and Latin America, underscoring the Chinese government's international ambitions at a time when globalisation is fuelling a populist backlash in the west.The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank held its first annual meeting over the weekend for 57 founding shareholders, the vast majority of them being countries from Asia and western Europe. But, according to an internal list of "potential new members" circulated to delegates, the bank's complexion is set to change with a surge in applicants from Africa and Latin America.That would allow the AIIB, which can only fund projects in member countries, to rapidly expand its presence in both regions as western governments wrestle with the consequences of the UK's vote to withdraw from the EU.