The Chinese Example

This bit comes from Bronwen Maddox at the Times:

At the weekend’s G20 summit in Washington, Russia was almost silent. The contrast with China was startling. China, unlike Russia, has bought into the idea that it serves its own interest by embedding itself further into international rules and by taking a more prominent role in institutions.

It has talked about helping to prop up the International Monetary Fund. Its leaders beat the rest to an announcement of a fiscal stimulus – and may, through that, have bounced the gathering into a firmer agreement on that front than it otherwise would have managed.

Now why didn’t Moscow think of that?  Russia should resist the temptation to overlook how playing within the rules can actually advance their interests further than their default role of the petulant and insouciant outsider.