Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping has not discouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching a major attack on Ukraine, according to Chinese and Russian officials.
“It seeks not only to smear and drive a wedge in China-Russia relations but also to deliberately disrupt and undermine the Beijing Winter Olympics,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters when asked by Russian state media if Xi had discouraged such an assault. “Such a despicable trick cannot fool the international community.”
Putin and Xi have made a great show of “high-level strategic partnership” in recent years, as the Russian annexation of Crimea and destabilization of eastern Ukraine coincided with China’s assertion of sovereignty over vast swathes of the South China Sea — a claim enforced by the construction of artificial islands that now house Chinese military assets. The diplomatic alignment of Moscow and Beijing culminated in Putin’s decision to seek Xi’s support before revealing his ultimatum to Western officials last month.
“It is sheer impossibility and unbelievable stupidity,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said Monday, denouncing the report that Xi might have weighed in against an expanded assault as “utter jaw-dropping fake news.”
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Western observers think Xi would not want to see such an attack unfold so close to the Beijing Olympics next month. Xi plans to host Putin during the games in defiance of the U.S. decision to boycott the games due to China’s atrocities against Uyghur Muslims, which the State Department has concluded rise to the level of genocide.
“I believe that the Chinese look at the Russian spectacle that the Kremlin is orchestrating in and around Ukraine with both big interest and some degree of ambivalent sentiments: On the one hand, it’s a great test case for them to see how NATO, the U.S., and the Europeans are trying (almost desperately) to grapple with the challenge and military threat posed by Moscow,” former NATO chief strategic policy analyst Stefanie Babst, who held that post from 1998 to 2020, told the Washington Examiner.
“On the other hand, China doesn’t appear to seek to side openly with a Russian partner being at war,” she added. “I don’t believe for a minute that Xi would fancy standing next to Putin on Feb. 4 (at their next big bilat) when his Russian friend is busy running a military campaign.”
Xi’s presumed desire to avoid such an embarrassing display might shift “after the Olympics,” Babst allowed. And another close observer of Russian policy surmised that Putin might not care either way.
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“Putin didn’t wait in 2008 when we had the Beijing Olympics and he invaded Georgia,” a Baltic official recalled to the Washington Examiner. “It’s also just the question of just a few weeks. … I wouldn’t say that this is the main concern for Russia: not to spoil the Olympics.”
Zhao insisted that there is no disagreement about Ukraine and the Olympics. “China-Russia relations today are mature, stable, and resilient. The two sides maintain close communication at all levels, thwarting any attempt to play China off against Russia or to challenge their mutual trust,” he said. “We are confident that we will deliver a streamlined, safe, and splendid Winter Olympic Games for the world and ensure the smooth and successful visits to and stay in Beijing by President Putin and other world leaders.”
