Putin’s move ‘baffles’ Beijing

The Chinese call for “dialogue” and “consultations” to resolve the crisis. China will not recognize Russia’s annexation of the occupied lands in Ukraine, nor will it support any Kremlin nuclear adventures. The Russian president appears to have ignored Xi Jinping’s warning on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

Rome () – The Chinese government wasted no time in expressing its displeasure at Vladimir Putin’s announcements today about his “special military operation” in Ukraine (read invasion). In a speech that had raised expectations, the Russian president expressed his support for the “farce” of the referendums, which will be held from September 23 to 27 in the occupied territories of Ukraine for their annexation to Russia. In addition, the Russian “tsar” also ordered a “partial” mobilization of 300,000 reservists to face the effective Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said China instead called for “dialogue” and “consultations” to address the concerns of the parties involved.

In his speech, Putin spoke of the “nuclear blackmail” of the West, pointing out that Russia will defend its territory by all means. The fear is that, once parts of the Donbass and the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions have been annexed, the Kremlin will resort to the preventive use of tactical nuclear weapons in case these territories are attacked by kyiv (a situation that is already underway and that it has also happened in Crimea).

Wang stressed that Beijing’s position on Ukraine is “clear” and “consistent.” China “unofficially” supports the Russian action, being careful not to incur indirect Western sanctions: the Chinese have increased their purchases of Russian oil, gas and coal, but do not provide military aid and have not made any investments in Russia since the outbreak of the conflict in February.

Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 15., on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand (Uzbekistan). The Russian leader had to admit for the first time that China raised concerns and raised questions about the armed operation against kyiv (Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did the same).

According to several analysts, the mobilization of the reservists and the referendums show that Putin has problems on the Ukrainian front, fighting against military pressure from kyiv and the effects of Western sanctions. It is clear that he will not find the support of Beijing: the Chinese did not recognize the annexation of Crimea in 2014, nor the pro-Russian breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk seven months ago. They will do the same with Moscow’s new territorial “acquisitions”, and will look with horror at the possible Russian use of nuclear devices.

Before the SCO summit, Xi had sent a clear message to Putin, during meetings with the heads of state of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan: that China firmly supports the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of states in which Russian or Russian-speaking communities live. An inescapable point for a country that claims to fight against Taiwanese “separatism”, Uyghur “separatism” in Xinjiang and that of Tibet and Inner Mongolia. The Kremlin leader does not appear to have acknowledged receipt.