Day: March 19, 2023

Xi Heads to Russia, Praising Putin and Saying Little About Ukraine

Chin@Strategy

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is set to arrive in Moscow on Monday for a summit with President Vladimir V. Putin that will test how far Mr. Xi is willing to go to act as a potential peace broker in the war in Ukraine. The Chinese government has cast Mr. Xi’s three-day state visit to Russia as a “trip for peace,” seeking to burnish his image as a global statesman after Beijing hosted talks this month that led to a significant agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. But even Chinese state…

‘Good old friend’: Putin offers praise for Xi ahead of first trip to Russia since Ukraine invasion

Chin@Strategy

Vladimir Putin has praised “good old friend” Xi Jinping in a newspaper article published in China on the eve of a state visit by the Chinese president that will reaffirm the leaders’ strong ties and provide Moscow with an opportunity to emphasise that it has not been isolated by the global community. The two leaders, who are believed to share a strong personal relationship, will meet one-on-one on Monday, followed by an informal lunch, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said. In an article written for a Chinese newspaper on Sunday, Putin…

German Public Opinion in the China Policy Debate

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement At the dawn of a new political era in Germany, the German population’s growing mistrust of China is a trend with significant implications for the country’s foreign policy. In the March 2023 edition of the monthly political opinion poll ARD-Deutschlandtrend surveyed Germans were asked to identify their nation’s most trustworthy partners. The results revealed that a vast majority of respondents – 83 percent – do not consider China to be a trustworthy partner, a degree not far short of the levels of mistrust respondents have toward Russia (88 percent).…

China Condemns British MPs for Ignoring Demand Not to Visit Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

Beijing —  China’s embassy in Britain on Sunday condemned a visit this week by British lawmakers to Taiwan, saying they were insisting on visiting the island despite China’s strong opposition. Taiwan’s Presidential Office said the group of six lawmakers from the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group would meet President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei on Monday. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has been ramping up military, political and economic pressure to assert those claims. A statement from China’s embassy in London said that the lawmakers have “insisted…

Does US embrace mean end of Kenya’s pro-China ‘Look East’ policy?

Chin@Strategy

Members of his administration have met top-level US officials more than a dozen times. Ruto has not, however, met many Chinese officials, apart from China’s ambassador to Kenya and Liu Yuxi, Beijing’s special representative on African affairs, who was in Kenya for Ruto’s inauguration in September. Ruto has visited the US twice, met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and many more Western leaders. Kenya has received top American officials, including Trade Representative Katherine Tai, ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield and first lady Jill Biden.…

Putin welcomes China’s willingness to play ‘constructive role’ in solving ‘Ukraine crisis’

Chin@Strategy

Vladimir Putin has welcomed China’s willingness to play a “constructive role” in solving in what he called the Ukraine “crisis”, in an article released on the eve of a visit by his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. In what the Kremlin said was an article written for a Chinese newspaper on Sunday, the Russian president called Xi his “good old friend” and said Russia had high hopes for his visit, the Chinese leader’s first to Russia since Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine last year. Xi’s visit comes just days after…

Gunmen Kill 9 Chinese at Mine in Central African Republic

Chin@Strategy

BANGUI, Central African Republic —  Gunmen stormed a Chinese-operated gold mining site that had recently been launched in Central African Republic, killing nine Chinese nationals and wounding two others Sunday, authorities said. However, the rebel coalition initially blamed by some for the attack put out a statement later in the day. Without providing evidence, it accused Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group of being behind the violence. The attack early Sunday came just days after gunmen kidnapped three Chinese nationals in the country’s west near the border with Cameroon, prompting…

Russia’s Asia Pivot Spurs Boom in Chinese Classes

Chin@Strategy

Moscow —  Every Sunday, Chinese tutor Kirill Burobin begins work in the early morning and is kept busy until midnight. As Russia seeks to tighten ties with China amid Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine, the number of Burobin’s students has tripled over the past year. “Sunday is the busiest,” 20-year-old Burobin, who makes a good living with his online lessons, told AFP. “I have 16 hours of classes virtually without a break.” The boom in demand for Chinese lessons in Russia illustrates the country’s pivot toward Asia as tensions build…

After South China Sea setback, Beijing seeks to arm itself with international law – like the West

Chin@Strategy

Moreover, there is no universal supranational enforcement mechanism. Indeed, some cynics describe international law as “the arms of politics”: where nations use self-serving interpretations and practices to achieve their political goals. China has been unmercifully bashed by the West for its transgressions while other states seem to have all but buried theirs. The US has been particularly adept at manipulating international law, especially the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), to which it is not even a party. Advertisement During the Cold War, when some developing countries…