The fact that Xi Jinping's first foreign visit as China's president will be to Russia is symbolic. Russia is not China's formal ally, nor is it its main trading partner and leading investor. It is, of course, a neighbor across a 4,355-km-long border. It is also an important source of raw materials and military technology for China.

More importantly, Russia is a fiercely independent strategic player in a fast-changing global system. Solid relations with Russia do not only guarantee China a safe and secure neighborhood in the north, they also provide it with a like-minded partner in the UN Security Council and new groups like the G20, BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. That Xi is beginning his term in office with a BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa, preceded by a visit to Moscow also shows the Chinese leadership's bid to play a bigger global role.

The main concern of China's new leadership is certainly the country's economic development and transformation into an increasingly complex society, which could push its foreign policy to the back seat. Yet the "pivot to Asia" policy of the United States, the Diaoyu Islands dispute with Japan, other territorial disputes with Vietnam and the Philippines, India's perennial anxiety when it comes to China, and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue make managing China's international relations more difficult than before.