Big brother Xi and his Ukraine deception with Putin

Hypocrisy runs deep into China’s political psyche. Nowhere is it more pronounced than in President Xi Jinping’s aggressive foreign policy goals of divide and rule.

Without his “no limits partnership” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine would have collapsed instead of dragging on into a fourth year. The sheer scale of “support” was spelt out by the Mercator Institute for China Studies or MERICS.

Back in June, the Berlin-based think tank with Chatham House and the German Marshall Fund of the United States released a report underlining Beijing’s duplicity when it pointed out that China was “providing Russia with an economic lifeline.”

The study went into fine detail. “[China] is helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions and expand its military-industrial complex with unrestricted exports of critical goods. [It is also] supporting Russia with hybrid operations and increased military cooperation,” it said.

Last week, China’s state-run Global Times glossed over this deception in an editorial, invoking phrases such as “lasting peace” and “sincerity.” 

It then stated that “the international community should seize this opportunity” and “adhere to principles” with “no fanning by any party over the flames” of Ukraine’s burnt-out landscape. Except, of course, the Communist Party of China.

[China] played a decisive [role in] enabling the Kremlin’s military machine.

Henry Storey, a senior analyst at political risk consultancy Dragoman

Jaw, jaw, not war, war:

• Whatever happens at the peace talks instigated by US President Donald Trump, Kyiv must not be abandoned, with Europe scrambling to put a security plan together. 
• The signs are ominous, with Trump talking about “dividing up certain assets” as Russia increases its military action.

Delve deeper: The White House has been antagonistic to Ukraine’s plight since Trump took office. It has played into Moscow’s hands and Russia’s biggest backer, China. 

Between the lines: “[Beijing] has consistently and perfidiously claimed neutrality,” Henry Storey, a senior analyst at Dragoman, a Melbourne-based political risk consultancy, wrote in a commentary earlier this week for the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank.  

Bottom line: “The reality is that it has played a decisive [role in] enabling the Kremlin’s military machine. Evidence has even emerged that China has transgressed its own putative red lines on directly supplying Russia with weapons,” he said.

Big picture: “Beijing has in the past proved almost completely impervious to Europe’s repeated admonishments to stem the flow of critical inputs,” Storey added.

China Factor comment: Trump’s much-quoted, The Art of The Deal, will probably be retitled ‘The Art of The Steal’ if he caves into Putin and his “big brother” Comrade Xi.