A war which distracts and weakens the United States is in Beijing’s long-term interests so long as it does not render its most powerful ally, Russia, useless.
When Xi Jinping met Vladimir Putin on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the world had no idea about Moscow’s plans to invade Ukraine just weeks later.
On Friday, it called for a ceasefire in Ukraine with a 12-point plan pushing for an end to hostilities, protection of nuclear plants, holding peace talks and an end to sanctions.China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, flagged a peace plan during a security forum in Munich, Germany already erased after the Pentagon shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon this month, the Ukraine war has become the new inflection point in souring US-Sino relations.“It is pretty bleak. Clearly the US-China relationship is still looking for the floor. Guardrails are still a work in progress,” says Drew Thompson, a visiting research scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. “There is deep animosity, distrust on both sides.
Rather than distance itself from a campaign that has galvanised global support for Ukraine’s interests and been a disaster for Putin, China is heading in the opposite direction.Xi is expected to visit Moscow in the coming months and Chinese officials and state media doubled down on anti-Western rhetoric this week before the one-year anniversary of the invasion.
At the same time as Fortescue Metals is preparing to host a delegation of chief executives and the media at next month’s Boao Forum on China’s Hainan Island,China said on Friday that “all parties should support Russia and Ukraine in working in the same direction and resuming direct dialogue as quickly as possible, so as to gradually de-escalate the situation and ultimately reach a comprehensive ceasefire”.
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