Minxin Pei is professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a nonresident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Beijing had assumed that time was on its side.
Opinion
China's long game has just gotten a lot harder
Putin's war against Ukraine has upended key assumptions
Vladimir Putin talks with Xi Jinping via video link in December 2021: China wants to reassure Moscow of its support without appearing to do so to the rest of the world. (Handout photo from Kremlin Press Office) © Reuters
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