Editor's note: Hannan Hussain is a foreign affairs commentator and author. He is a Fulbright recipient at the University of Maryland, the U.S., and a former assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

In a video call on December 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to bolster joint cooperation to uphold multilateralism, made evident their support for Moscow's legitimate security demands from the U.S., while converging their expectations around next year's Beijing Winter Olympics. 

"We firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and safeguarding the dignity of each country," Xi remarked at the meeting. "Certain international forces ... are interfering in the internal affairs of China and Russia, and brutally trampling on international law and recognized norms of international relations," he added.

Potent reminders against foreign interference couldn't have arrived at a better time. On Russia's part, NATO's likelihood of expanding eastward, coupled with the specter of weaponizing Russia's periphery, demands credible negotiation with the U.S. on what Russia has rightly communicated as its sovereign redlines. It is here that Xi's support for Putin's demands for written security guarantees is a welcome reinforcement of shared security concerns, underpinned by a clear-cut message: that select Western powers should not underestimate China and Russia's ability to protect each other's core security determinants in the neighborhood.

Growing emphasis from Xi and Putin on advancing infrastructure that's conducive to trade and is financially independent, is also a step in the right direction. After all, the focus follows a streak of hollow threats from select Western powers about unilateral sanctions against Russia, fueled by imaginations of so-called Russian aggression and provocation.

But as Xi and Putin's common understanding on Wednesday showed, foreign attempts to deflect interference on either power wouldn't culminate into a "wedge" being driven between them. Instead, the two leaders' desire to further promote the sustained development contours of their bilateral ties revealed the grave futility of financial threats emanating from the West.

The virtual exchange also played a commendable role in making clear that neither Russia nor China identify as proponents of bloc politics or contested like-minded democracy groupings. "Whether a country is democratic or not and how to better realize democracy can only be left to its own people to decide," stressed Xi. Russia's nod to similar assumptions as being "very counterproductive" and averse to global cooperation captured the spirit of international engagement and mutual respect in Sino-Russian conception.

The influence of the U.S. not sending officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics is waning as the Games in Beijing occupy center stage. The latest reminder is President Putin's welcome decision to attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in person next year, after some notable powers such as France also refused to play into the U.S.'s anti-China narrative.

Alluding to China's success in making athletic competitions stand out at the highest levels, Putin is correct to pronounce a united stand against the politicization of sports and the Olympic movement as a whole. More importantly, the Russian president's admission that Sino-Russian ties have always manifested shared support "on issues of international sports cooperation, including in rejecting any attempts to politicize sports" incentivizes serious contemplation on the part of the U.S. and its allies, especially as they tout sporting freedoms in the world by day and end the case for credibility by doing the opposite.

Finally, the Xi-Putin exchange put a premium on how demonstrated noninterference in their internal affairs has helped make it the bedrock principle of their evolving cooperation. "A new model of cooperation has been formed between our countries, based on other matters of principles such as non-interference in [each other's] internal affairs," said Putin at the meeting.

As both countries vow to take notable steps in expanding cooperation to economic and trade continuity, aerospace projects, energy and technology, there is little doubt that China and Russia have managed to redefine the contours of their all-encompassing strategic partnership.

Put simply, it is a growth in all-weather ties that is marked by sensitivity to sovereign interests and commendable navigation of past trials, ensuring that the progress curve is kept upright.

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