China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday that Beijing would “strengthen strategic cooperation” with Moscow during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
In comments reported by the RIA Novosti news agency, Wang said Beijing and Moscow would “provide each other with strong support.”
The meeting took place during a two-day visit by Lavrov to China. The two powers have improved their diplomatic ties since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, declaring a “no limits” partnership.
The West is “implementing unlawful sanctions toward a number of states, Russia is among them of course. This policy is starting to be actively applied toward [China] as well,” Lavrov said, referencing efforts by the US to restrict China’s access to key US-made technologies.
Nah. The EU is wayyyyyy more involved than they’d ever be in against China. The US isn’t even trying, mostly handing off cold war era surpluses, like WW3 levels of cluster munitions that were due to be decommissioned anyways.
Ukraine is a way for China to get cheap oil and mining, on top of 25% extra markups on electronics. Props up their ailing economy a bit longer.
The ease at which a simple looking invasion has turned into a multi-year quagmire is also not lost on the Chinese. Both Russia and China are looking at demographic shifts if not outright collapses, and a long bloody war that drives people out and kills a lot more won’t bode well. Xi may still try to pick a fight but it’s not clear what they stand to gain, while doing nothing means they can fleece the Russians while simultaneously watching the Indians slowly lose their military supplier. Bang the drum a little and then sit back and let the money flow in.