China concedes Russia’s defeat in war against Ukraine and seeks to improve relations with Europe – FT

Russia did not warn China about plans to carry out a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. In this regard, China started talking about distrust of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

This is reported by the British newspaper Financial Times with reference to high-ranking Chinese officials and European diplomats.

– Despite all public statements about bilateral friendship, in private conversations some Chinese officials express at least some distrust of Putin himself.

Five senior officials familiar with the matter told the FT at different times over the past nine months that Moscow had not informed Beijing of its intention to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine before Putin ordered the attack, the paper said.

According to the publication, during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in early February 2022, Putin said that Russia would be ready to respond in case of an attack by Ukrainians “on Russian territory”. At the same time, the Kremlin dictator did not warn of plans for a full-scale aggression against Ukraine.

Official Beijing then took Putin’s statements as a signal of the possibility of some limited military intervention, not an all-out invasion. Chinese diplomats in private conversations assured that Beijing was not aware of such intentions of Moscow.

After the start of the full-scale war, the Chinese government even demoted Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, who was responsible for relations with Russia.

This official was seen as a possible next foreign minister of China, but he lost his post because he failed to predict Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Le Yucheng currently serves as deputy head of the National Administration of Television and Radio Broadcasting.

– Le was demoted two levels. He was found responsible for the failure of intelligence about the Russian invasion, – the source said.

And one of the Chinese officials in a conversation with the FT called the Russian dictator “crazy”.

– Putin is crazy. The decision to invade was made by a very small group of people. China should not just follow Russia,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to the newspaper, Beijing assumes that Russia will emerge from the war against Ukraine as an economically and politically weakened “minor power” on the world stage. In addition, China is aware of the likelihood that Russia will not be able to defeat Ukraine.

Against the background of these factors, China is preparing a “fundamental reset” in its foreign and economic policy, during which the key attention will be paid to improving relations with Europe. They suffered greatly because of China’s support for Russia during the war in Ukraine.

According to the publication, the starting point for the diplomatic reset is Beijing’s reassessment of the benefits of its close relations with Moscow. Chinese authorities want to bring their country out of isolation and prevent Europe’s rapprochement with the United States.

Chinese and European officials told reporters that Beijing will try to assure European partners that it is ready to use the closeness of its relations with Moscow to deter Putin from using nuclear weapons.

Another aspect of Beijing’s strategy is to position itself not only as a potential peacemaker, but also as a party to Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction efforts.

Through such steps, China seeks to overcome its antagonism with the West.

– China has realized that it was at odds with too many countries at the same time, especially among the developed countries that are still its main trade and economic partners.

Therefore, it is trying to establish contact with the European Union and key European countries – Germany, France, Italy and Spain, as well as with Asian allies of the United States, such as Japan and South Korea, and partners of the United States, such as Vietnam, – Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert on China at Hong Kong Baptist University, explained to the publication.

FT reminds that the European Union is China’s largest trading partner, and several leading European companies are among the largest foreign investors in China.