China's foreign minister proposes strengthening ties with Russia

• Strengthening relationships with Russia and Putin, including last week's joint naval drills in the East China Sea, could be seen as political pushback.

Catch up quick: Tensions between the U.S. and China ratcheted up earlier this month.

• First, the Biden administration came out in support of anti-COVID policy protesters in China.
• Then, the new omnibus spending bill included up to $10 billion in security assistance for Taiwan.

But, but, but: China will be reticent to push too hard.

• In the same speech that Yi accused the U.S. of “unilateral bullying," he also acknowledged "that China and the United States cannot decouple or sever supply chains.”
• "People in both countries and the rest of the world are hoping to see a stabilizing and improving China-US relationship. The zero-sum mentality will only lead the two major countries to mutual attrition and head-on collision," Yi said.