Reza Hasmath
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin walks with China’s President Xi Jinping at a welcome ceremony including the Beijing Capital Garrison Honor Guard Battalion and children holding the two countries’ national flags in Beijing, during Putin’s state visit to China, May 16, 2024.Credit: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office
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When Chinese and Russian officials meet beneath the banners of “no limits” cooperation, it is easy to focus on the pageantry: bilateral summits, choreographed handshakes and scripted joint declarations.
Beneath this diplomatic theater, however, lies a more subtle and resilient connection – one forged not solely in elite dialogues, but in the minds of everyday Chinese citizens. It is a bond sustained less by ideology and more by the quiet mechanics of perception.
The latest data from the Chinese Citizens’ Global Perception Survey (CCGPS) confirms that in 2025, Russia remains the most trusted global partner for mainland Chinese respondents. Forty-two percent assigned Russia the lowest possible adversarial rating on the survey’s 7-point Likert scale.
Although Russia’s perceived importance to China’s long-term future dipped marginally, down 3 percent year-over-year, it still outpaces sentiment toward other jurisdictions, including the United States, the European Union, and Japan. Remarkably, this trust endures even as Russia remains embroiled in its war with Ukraine and continues to face international condemnation.
Understanding this enduring sentiment requires unpacking the foundations of public knowledge. The survey consistently finds a strong statistical correlation between trust in Russia and reported “knowledge of Russia.” In both 2024 and 2025, this variable overshadowed all others in explanatory power.
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