America is ’the biggest variable’, according to international relations expert and former diplomat Cui Hongjian
2-MIN READ2-MINFan ChenPublished: 2:23pm, 20 May 2026Updated: 2:24pm, 20 May 2026As energy cooperation tops the summit agenda, back-to-back state visits of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin could pave the way for emerging “trilateral coordination” between China, Russia and the United States.That is according to Cui Hongjian, a former diplomat and the head of European studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
But Cui said the US would remain the biggest uncertainty.
During talks with visiting Russian leader Putin on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said both countries should step up strategic coordination to counter “jungle law” in the global order.
Russia’s Putin visits China days after historic Xi-Trump summitIt also has drawn attention for what it may signal about the trajectory of relations among China, the US and Russia – seen as one of the most decisive dynamics shaping the fast-moving world order.
