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China’s sway over Russia not enough to impact Ukraine war, analyst says as ‘no-limits ties’ tested
- China is facing growing calls to help end the war on Ukraine before it sparks a broader conflict
- Economic interdependence and shared ideological suspicion of the West seen as driving Beijing’s reluctance to call out Moscow
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China’s influence on Russia is not big enough for it to mediate in the Ukraine war, a Chinese scholar has said.
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The cautionary note from a Eurasian foreign policy expert comes as Beijing faces mounting diplomatic pressure to persuade “no limits” partner Moscow to end the war, which many worry could spill into a broader conflict.
Xiao Bin, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, also dismissed claims that Beijing knew of Moscow’s plans before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered military operations in Ukraine on February 24.
Xiao’s arguments, published on the China-US Focus website, come at a time when China is struggling with some of the biggest challenges to its foreign policy, as its “no-limits” partnership with Russia – declared when Putin met President Xi Jinping ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics – comes under intense scrutiny.
The Xi-Putin summit on February 4 – the first in-person meeting for the Chinese leader in two years – was followed by a lengthy joint statement declaring Sino-Russia relations as “superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era”, and a coordinated stand on Taiwan and Nato.
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Twenty days later, Russia launched what it called a “special military operation” in Ukraine, sending tens of thousands of troops into the former Soviet state.
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