China's relations are starting to improve with Japan, India and other countries that former U.S. President Joe Biden courted, just as Donald Trump brings his more unilateralist approach back to the White House.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed ties with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, as the two face a more geopolitically assertive US government led by Donald Trump, who criticised the Kremlin's war against Ukraine on the first day of his second term as president.

The presidents sought to capture some of the media spotlight that was focused on the flurry of executive orders signed by Trump. Amid all the noise in Washington following the return of the Republican bulldozer to the White House,