Putin is beating Trump in the global power struggle

 When US President Donald Trump visited China last week, there were warm words and well-orchestrated photo opportunities with his host Xi Jinping, a leader Trump described as a “pretty cool guy”.

But despite the pomp and ceremony, Trump left China without any concrete deals, and this week the Chinese president will be hosting a guest he knows well – and with whom he is building a relationship to challenge American dominance.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is flying to China for his own official state visit, the latest of more than 40 occasions when the two leaders have met.

For Xi – who has recently hosted leaders from the UK, France, Canada and Iran – experts say the talks are all about power, who has it and how they use it – and in that battle, Putin is beating Trump hands down.

Professor Steve Tsang, director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas)’s China Institute, explained how China’s leader views the ways Trump and Putin have used their power on the global stage.

“America is unquestionably the most powerful country in the world. Even Xi Jinping acknowledges that,” he told The i Paper. “But how has Donald Trump used American power? Ineffectively, pointlessly, and counterproductively, if not, frankly, stupidly.”

“In contrast, how has Russia, which has an economy roughly the size of one of China’s provinces, used Russian power? Mightily, effectively, and powerfully.”

For Professor Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, China and Russia are very different powers that operate in different ways but have a shared interest in opposing US and Western dominance, particularly in areas the two nations see as their own backyards, and in strengthening economic ties.

But the balance of power between the two is not equal. “It is an asymmetrical relationship because China is way more powerful. China is a superpower and Russia is not anymore,” argues Brown.

“It’s a complex relationship because they have a massive, shared border and they really want to manage their relationship rather than having strife for the simple fact that their priorities are elsewhere.”

And those priorities for both are challenging the West.

Russia and China have been increasing co-operation across military, political and economic activities, with particularly strong ties over resources, where energy-rich Russia supplies oil, gas and other supplies to an energy-poor China.

Trade between the two powers has grown steadily over the last 10 years, especially since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine, doubling between 2020 and 2024.

But for Tsang, when Putin and Xi meet in Beijing this week, it will be more about personal relationships than trade balances, and the way the two leaders treat each other is in stark contrast to the way they see Trump.

“Russia and China have the strongest partnership that China has with anybody and that is partly because of the personal relationship between Putin and Xi Jinping,” said Tsang.

“We know that Donald Trump admires Xi Jinping, but that feeling is not reciprocated.

“The positive feelings between Xi Jinping and Putin are mutual. Xi Jinping actually has respect for Putin in ways that he doesn’t with Trump.”