Jinping 'only person' who can influence Putin says Ex-MI6 chief
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Xi affirmed his support for Putin and Russia at a meeting in Beijing in early February ahead of the Winter Olympics. The leaders of the two superpowers declared the ties between their neighbouring countries had “no limits”. Their remarkable 5,000-word joint statement also said: “There are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.” At the time, Russia was amassing weapons and more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.
Then, on February 24, after months of denials by the Kremlin that an invasion was imminent, Russia invaded its former Soviet neighbour.
Following Moscow’s military intervention, China abstained from UN Security Council and General Assembly votes to condemn Russia.
However, with the bloodshed in Ukraine continuing, Xi now faces a “difficult” moment in his relationship with Putin, according to political expert Peter Frankopan, the professor of global history at the University of Oxford.
Asked about the bond between the two leaders, the academic explained that Xi would find it tricky to turn a blind eye to Putin’s barbaric assault on Ukraine, where more than 1,000 civilians have been killed.
He told Express.co.uk: “It is very difficult to try and sit on the fence. You are taking the side of a guy who has blown up maternity hospitals.
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“This is what the Russians have done. It is very difficult.
“And there has been a lot of chatter in China, particularly in the last 10 days or so of a reassessment.
“The Chinese to start with were all very supportive of Russia and thought it was all the West’s fault.
“Now, I think that that is starting to change a little bit. Russia is imploding.”
Prof Frankopan referred to the bombing of a children’s and maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, one of the most shocking incidents in the conflict so far.
A pregnant woman and her baby died in the attack earlier this month after a Russian airstrike on the medical facility.
Mariupol’s deputy mayor Sergei Orlov described the shelling as “pure genocide” and a “war crime”.
The following week, Xi warned against armed conflicts during a phone call with US President Joe Biden.
The Chinese leader stopped short of criticising Russia explicitly but said that “state-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of military hostilities”.
In his remarks, carried by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, he added: “Peace and security are the most valued treasures of the international community.”
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In his assessment of Sino-Russian relations, Prof Frankopan claimed that China may be concerned by Russia’s latest attempt to avoid sanctions designed to cripple its economy, which were imposed over the war in Ukraine.
In a potential blow for Chinese trade, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced Russia was authorising retailers to import products from abroad without the permission of copyright holders.
Prof Frankopan said: “This afternoon, the Russians have announced that they are going to have no copyrights on films, on music.
“They are going to exit all those international agreements we had to make it a free-for-all.
“That is not great for the global community. It is not great for countries like China that have invested quite a lot in terms of technology and patent protection.
“It is a little bit complicated, but I think that Russia’s trajectory might bring others down with it.
“And that is a cause of concern for China too.”
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