Xi-Putin summit: Russia inches closer to China as ‘new cold war’ looms

Fifty years after Nixon and Mao's historic handshake, the geopolitical world order is again being reshaped

When the leaders of China and Russia meet in Beijing this Friday shortly before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, observers of the bilateral relationship will be looking for insights into how this 21st century quasi-alliance is reshaping the postwar world order.

It was 50 years ago this month, on 21 February 1972, that the historic handshake between Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong changed the geometry of the cold war. Historians called the visit the week that changed the world". It later influenced Washington's subsequent movement towards detente with Moscow.