China stands with Russia. The war in Ukraine did not shake the “boundless” friendship, even if Beijing seemed a bit overwhelmed. Now Berlin and Paris want to talk to Beijing.
Notwithstanding the horrors of the Ukraine war, China is fully behind Russia, even as it marginalizes itself internationally.
“No matter how treacherous the international storm, China and Russia will maintain their strategic resolve and advance the comprehensive cooperative partnership in the new era,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday when asked about the international sanctions against Russia. “The friendship between the two peoples is rock solid.”
The minister used a press conference during the current session of the People’s Congress in Beijing to assure Russia that it could continue to count on China. Their relationship is “one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world”. The cooperation contributes to “peace and stability”, said Wang Yi, as if the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine did not exist.
It remains with the “boundless” friendship
If some observers seemed to be hoping that China would somehow distance itself from Putin, they may have been disappointed by Wang Yi’s widely acclaimed appearance before the press. The “boundless” friendship that China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sealed at their meeting in Beijing on February 4 remains the same.
Under pressure from the US and the West, China itself is seeking this alliance, even if the costs have unexpectedly skyrocketed with the invasion. “Xi Jinping made arguably one of the biggest foreign policy blunders of his two terms by aligning himself with Putin on the eve of Russia’s invasion,” said Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) China expert Jude Blanchette.
Beijing is in a dilemma: if Xi Jinping didn’t see the invasion coming, it doesn’t speak for his foreign policy skills. If he suspected it and let it happen without doing anything, China’s president is not in a creditable position either. There is some evidence of a miscalculation, also because Beijing hesitated far too long before asking its 6,000 or so compatriots in Ukraine to leave the country. Beijing had also dismissed the US warnings of the impending invasion as “warmongering” until the very end.
The severity of the sanctions, the unity of the otherwise divided democracies and the extremely high economic costs for Russia may have surprised Beijing. Unlike the economically rather insignificant Russia, China, as the second largest economy, is dependent on an open world trade and financial system. Chinese banks were therefore among the first to implement the sanctions in order not to become a target themselves.
abstention in the Security Council
In the UN Security Council, China did not condemn the invasion, but abstained. The United States hoped for a reorientation: “The world is looking at which countries stand up for the principles of freedom, self-determination and sovereignty,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone call to Wang Yi over the weekend.
“China always speaks of the inviolability of the principle of sovereignty,” explained Blinken afterwards on CNN. With Russia, however, there is now a permanent member of the UN Security Council who violates this principle. “That’s why we’re looking to China to make its voice heard. That voice counts.”
But China’s leadership refuses to change course. As a sign of how encircled China feels, the Secretary of State accused the United States of wanting to build a defense alliance in the Asian region: “The true goal of the Indo-Pacific strategy is to create an Indo-Pacific version of NATO.”
Desperate hopes from Ukraine or EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that China would use its influence to intervene in any way were dashed. Wang Yi only promised a “constructive role” that China wanted to play. Chinese experts also reject mediation: “If the West wants China to play a bigger role, it should first stop its malicious campaigns against China,” quoted the party-affiliated Global Times Professor Zhu Feng from Nanjing University.
With Xi Jinping standing by Putin so steadfastly, China is isolating itself further. “China just shot itself in the foot,” believes China expert Blanchette, pointing out how the front against China is growing in Europe and the United States. “The Russians have managed to completely change our China policy in Europe,” said the President of the EU Chamber of Commerce, Jörg Wuttke, in Beijing. He expects a stronger containment strategy by the USA, which Germans and other Europeans could not escape.
Wang Yi is well aware of this danger. As a precaution, he reminded the Europeans that their trade volume with China had now reached 800 billion US dollars a year: “We hope that Europe will develop a more independent and objective perception of China.” He hopes for a “pragmatic policy”. Europeans should reject «a new Cold War».
Berlin and Paris want to talk to Beijing
Germany and France are seeking exchanges with China in diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine. A talk between Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese head of state Xi Jinping is planned for Tuesday, as Macron announced on Monday evening at an election campaign event in Poissy near Paris.
Source: Stern
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