How united is the ‘autocratic alliance’ challenging the West?

BEIJING/SEOUL/WASHINGTON – Beyond the bonhomie of Xi Jinping’s unprecedented meeting with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un last week, there are limits to what the European Union described as an “autocratic alliance” defying the West, diplomats, lawmakers and analysts said. While the gathering at China’s Sept. 3 military parade sparked concern among some world leaders that they were bearing witness to an important geopolitical shift, Beijing, Moscow and Pyongyang are far from forming a cohesive bloc, the sources said. They pointed to the lack of an official trilateral summit during the event and uncertainty over marquee economic deals like a…