Russia today wants to intensify its relationship with China and complains that China is not equally warm in return, treating Russia as a junior partner.

Francois Godement observed acutely that Russia had "let out some public anxiety about China's behavior. On May 16, RT, the official Russian media outlet, published a criticism of China:

China still often behaves as though it can enjoy the benefits of strategic partnership without fully committing itself to the burdens that come with it.

"It's indeed very rare for Russia to acknowledge such sentiments publicly," Godement continued, categorizing those as sentiments "which apply so well to China's lesser partners such as Venezuela, Cuba or Iran."

The Russian analyst Alexey Martynov wrote:

Russia and China are moving, slowly but unmistakably, toward a structural alliance that is reshaping the global balance of power. But the two sides are progressing through this transformation at different speeds. Moscow has largely accepted the logic of deep strategic interdependence. Beijing, by contrast, still behaves as though it can preserve a carefully managed partnership in which China remains the senior partner while minimizing its own obligations. That model is reaching its limits.

But China appears irritated even by this new Russian warmth/jealousy. Russia is cultivating a very close relationship with North Korea — regarded by China as almost its own periphery — which certainly affects the security of all of Asia. North Korean rearmament impacts on the rearmament of South Korea and Japan as well.

On May 3, ahead of US President Donald Trump's May 13-15 visit to China, the South China Morning Post, with special channels to Beijing, reported that "China may be feeling uneasy about talk of a rare five-year defense cooperation plan between North Korea and Russia that could accelerate Pyongyang's military modernization on multiple fronts."

The timing could also be interesting, as it might have been a signal to the US as well as to Russia. It's unclear whether and to what extent Trump broached the subject with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their summit and what was agreed.