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Just days after breaking the ice (without breaking the bank) with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping is turning to more perennial partners.

Xi welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing on Tuesday for a substantive and far warmer visit. The two leaders attended a photo exhibition on China and Russia’s “everlasting friendship” and released a verbose joint statement in which they pledged to “deepen cooperation” on everything from nuclear energy to the preservation of leopards, pandas, and monkeys. They also name-checked Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, calling it a “clear threat to strategic stability,” and slammed his “irresponsible policy” in allowing the U.S.-Russia nuclear treaty known as New START to expire.

Just days after breaking the ice (without breaking the bank) with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping is turning to more perennial partners.

Xi welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing on Tuesday for a substantive and far warmer visit. The two leaders attended a photo exhibition on China and Russia’s “everlasting friendship” and released a verbose joint statement in which they pledged to “deepen cooperation” on everything from nuclear energy to the preservation of leopards, pandas, and monkeys. They also name-checked Trump’s proposed Golden Dome missile defense system, calling it a “clear threat to strategic stability,” and slammed his “irresponsible policy” in allowing the U.S.-Russia nuclear treaty known as New START to expire.

But as comprehensive as that engagement was, it was not altogether unexpected. Xi noted that it was........

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