Introduction

The relationship between Putin and Xi is a "marriage of convenience," journalist Melinda Liu tells Ian Bremmer on the GZERO World podcast. Russia's war in Ukraine has put China in an awkward spot: they condemn the invasion, but not the invader.  

Liu, who has been Newsweek's Beijing bureau chief for decades, believes that Xi is likely as isolated and surrounded by sycophants as Putin, which makes predicting what he'll do next very hard. Chinese coverage of the war hasn’t been consistent, and neither is China’s historical relationships with Ukraine and Russia.    

She also explains why Xi's biggest problem right now is not Putin, but rather China's zero-COVID policy, which now has 26 million people under lockdown on Shanghai. China is facing a challenge they never saw coming — and that "hits right to the soul."  

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