February 4, 2022, President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping issued the “Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development.” The document was a public announcement memorializing the two countries’ mutual admiration, security, and 30-year energy and bilateral economic wealth agreement. As you would suspect, the joint statement content had all the highfalutin language about “cultural diversity,” “rights of peoples of different countries to self-determination,” and “promote genuine democracy.” Nevertheless, there are important messages in the joint statement once the reader...