The two most powerful autocrats in the world have differing views on how to increase their influence.
Xi Jinping celebrated his 69th birthday this Wednesday by calling Vladimir Putin. This is their second conversation since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to Chinese state network CCTV, what has resulted from talks between the Chinese and Russian presidents is Xi’s offer to help “responsibly resolve the crisis in Ukraine through a dialogue”.
“China is ready to continue its role in this regard”Xi promised his Russian counterpart that the second world power would continue to support Moscow in terms of “sovereignty and security”. Xi also sent another signal to Putin, saying that bilateral ties were passing through “good times in the face of global turmoil and changes” since the beginning of the year.
It had been three and a half months since the two chiefs of Peking and Moscow had not exchanged calls. The two most powerful autocrats in the world have differing views on how to increase their influence. Starts rewriting the rule with a check book and invests in making friends. Others bet—and execute—an expansion with tanks, missiles, and bullets. But both play at home with growing authoritarianism, which places power in the hands of a long-standing leader, and as visitors they are assertive forces who share the notion that the United States, their The main rival, is a threat to their interests.
Xi and Putin last spoke on February 25., while Russian troops advanced on Kyiv after shelling in the Obolon district, just nine kilometers from the center of the Ukrainian capital. So Xi asked his Russian ally to resolve the “crisis” in Ukraine through dialogue. There was no clear support from the Chinese leader for the invasion, but he did not show any signs of criticism. Since then, Beijing has continued to go through that obscurity.
In the Asian giant they define their position as neutral, facing the outer gallery. But behind closed doors, the media controlled by the ruling Communist Party of China (CCP) follows the narrative set by the Kremlin, tacitly supporting Russian propaganda.
The war in Ukraine is in its fourth month and since China did not send weapons to Russia Nor has he provided any military aid to Putin. Beijing too has not yet become Moscow’s economic lifeline, although they criticize Western sanctions almost daily. What the Chinese regime has also failed to do is take any steps to play an active role in mediation with a view to achieving a ceasefire.
Beijing has done nothing more than ask for peace, despite greater pressure from the West to use its influence with its ally Putin and stop profiles in the conflict. Xi has spoken with almost all the key actors in the war: Putin, Biden, Macron, Scholz, Ursula von der Leyen… but he is reluctant to call Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Chinese leaders often praise the “flexibility” of bilateral relations with Moscow and continue to bet on the “unlimited strategic coordination” that Xi Jinping agreed with Putin at the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics on 4 February . On that day both had promised to deepen cooperation on various fronts. This was the last time the two leaders had a close personal relationship, Have met about 40 times since 2012Faces seen. Xi then backed Putin, demanding that NATO halt its expansion into Eastern Europe.
In those days in early February, Bloomberg reported that Xi had asked Putin not to provoke any military conflict in Ukraine during the Beijing Olympics. From Moscow he denied this. It was not even 24 hours after the end of the Games when Putin announced that he recognized the independence of the self-declared separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
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