Sino-Russia relations have gone through subtle changes after the defeat of Hezbollah by Israeli operations in Lebanon in September and the victory of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the United States in early November. 

The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, a strong ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, on December 8 also widened the difference of geopolitical interests between China and Russia, according to some Chinese commentators. 

Due to all these incidents, Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of the United Russia party and deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, visited Beijing on December 12.

Xinhua News Agency said Medvedev met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and passed him a letter signed by Putin. It said the letter expressed Putin's delight at visiting China again on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and China. 

However, Chinese pundits said people should pay attention to Medvedev's latest meeting with Liu Jianchao, a top Chinese diplomat and the current head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

During their meeting, Medvedev told Liu that "Russia is ready to resume negotiations with Ukraine if Kyiv understands the realities of today and taking into consideration the suggestions made by Putin." 

Some observers said Medvedev's speech means that Putin is reluctant to have a ceasefire talk with Kyiv while Beijing only cares whether it can maintain its trade relations with Europe in the Trump 2.0 era.

A Hebei-based writer called "Bo Ge" says in an article published on December 12 that Medvedev's remark showed that Moscow wants to "maintain its independence and seek to achieve effective interaction in particular topics" in Russia-China relations. 

"Although China and Russia have cooperated in some energy and anti-terrorism matters, both sides' strategic interests are significantly different in geopolitical issues related to Europe's security and Middle East matters," he says. "Medvedev's latest Beijing trip has failed to break the deep ice between China and Russia."

A Henan-based columnist using the pseudonym "A book seller in the ocean" published an article with the title "China and Russia can't form an alliance; Medvedev has made a decision" on December 12.