‘China holds the cards’: Why Putin’s visit to Beijing after Trump matters

When Russian President Vladimir Putin lands in Beijing on Tuesday evening, his official agenda will be to join his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in commemorating a quarter-century-old agreement, the unambiguously described 2001 Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation.

Yet, say analysts, the significance of the Xi-Putin summit, likely to be held on Wednesday morning, runs much d...