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China and Russia proclaimed a deep strategic partnership on Friday to balance what they portrayed as the malign global influence of the United States as China's President Xi Jinping hosted Russia's Vladimir Putin on the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In a joint statement, the two countries affirmed that their new relationship was superior to any political or military alliance of the Cold War era.

“Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation," they declared, announcing plans to collaborate in a host of areas including space, climate change, artificial intelligence and control of