Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a remote video press conference, March 7, 2022. Credit: Sam McNeil/AP Photo
When General Secretary Xi Jinping and President Putin declared on February 4th that their relationship would know “no limits” and was dedicated to realigning the global order, neither may have realized how quickly these ideas would be put to the test. While it is inconceivable that Putin did not inform Xi of his views about Ukraine at their summit in Beijing, it is possible that the full extent of his invasion plans was not revealed. We will never know. However, Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine has presented Beijing with a difficult line to tread in terms of how to maintain its strengthened relationship with Russia without significantly alienating the West, especially given Xi’s warm embrace of Putin. China’s diplomats have been left with limited space for maneuver.
Perhaps Beijing was hoping for a short, sharp action through which the Russian military would roll over Ukrainian forces and annex the eastern part of Ukraine, in the same manner as it did in the C
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