US will also pay heavy cost if it persists with its myopic belligerence

At a news briefing in Beijing on Jan 17, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman stated "there is no ceiling for China-Russia relations, there is no restricted zone in China-Russia strategic cooperation".

The most telling proof of that is certainly the intimacy Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin showcased in Beijing. The Russian guest's personal presence at the opening of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics itself illustrates the "increasingly thicker, increasingly deeper personal friendship between the two heads of state", according to Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Le Yucheng. Following their meeting on Friday before their attendance at the opening ceremony for the Games, the Chinese and Russian leaders issued a joint statement on international relations entering a new era and global sustainable development, expounding the two governments' common positions on democracy, development, security and order.

Citing the nearly 20 documents signed on bilateral cooperation that day, which range from economy and trade to investment in energy and sports, Le said "the express train of China-Russia relations is always on its way, where there is no terminal, but only filling stations". Such closeness between the two countries is certainly upsetting to some wary third parties. But it is no excuse for incriminating China amid the present scare-mongering hype about an imminent "Russian invasion" of Ukraine.