Some in Washington see Moscow as a “junior partner” to be drawn away from Beijing’s orbit and into its own Western experts often speak about Russia becoming China’s ‘junior partner’ and even a ‘vassal state’. This narrative has dominated nearly all Western discussions about Russia-China relations for a long time. It is true that over the past few decades, the ties between the two nations have developed dynamically. After the start of the Ukraine conflict, as Western countries attempted to ‘