Perhaps more than any other capital in the world, Beijing has closely observed the changing of the guard in the Kremlin. There are many reasons for Beijing's concerns: Russia's revival as a major power, its petro-politics approach to foreign relations, its management of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), not to mention the stability of the 4,300-km Sino-Russian border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's arrangement with Dimitri Medvedev last December was a surprise for Beijing. Few, if any, Chinese observers had anticipated that Putin would have his cake and eat it too. What separates Beijing from the West in their respective perceptions of Russia's leadership transition is a matter of substance vs. form.
For the West, Putin's rule signifies Russia's departure from democracy. Beijing's view is that Putinism works for a nation like Russia. During eight years under Putin, Russia has been transformed from chaos to stability, from fragmentation to recentralization, and from poverty to prosperity.