Xi Jinping told Joe Biden over a video call that Ukraine is the United State’s problem. A Chinese vlogger wanted to tell the story of the Ukraine war, but was called a “traitor” instead. There is internal rumbling in Chinese politics — Li Keqiang may stay around. Chinascope brings you key stories from China this week.
China over the week
The high stakes diplomacy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine witnessed yet another meeting of top leaders — this time between presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. On March 18, the two had a video call. “The situation in Ukraine has become grave and China doesn’t want it to get worse. China has always advocated peace and opposed the war, a Chinese historical and cultural tradition,” Xi told Biden. To reiterate his message, Xi used the Chinese saying, “Let he who tied the bell on the tiger take it off”.
Besides Ukraine, Taiwan was another sticking point between the two leaders.
“If the Taiwan issue is not handled properly, it will have a subversive impact on the relationship between the two countries. Hope the US side will pay enough attention. The current situation in China-US relations is directly due to the fact that some people in the US did not implement the important consensus reached by the two of us, nor did they implement Mr President’s positive remarks. The US has misread and misjudged China’s strategic intentions,” Xi said.
Hours before the call, China sailed an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait in a message to Washington DC. Xi’s comments on Taiwan also hint that Beijing is seeking to exploit the different opinions held by Biden’s China policy team.
But there is a difference of opinion within the Chinese government on the Russia-Ukraine war as well.
Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the US, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post disputing claims that Chinese leadership had prior knowledge about the war.
“Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it,” Qin Gang wrote. He didn’t mention NATO.
The op-ed was widely shared by China watchers as a potential shift in China’s approach to the war. This, however, may not be true because China’s vice foreign minister Le Yucheng blamed NATO for the war in Ukraine, calling the alliance group a “Cold War vestige”, and termed the sanctions on Russia “outrageous”.
Le spoke at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy during a core forum session titled “The Changing Asia-Pacific: United or Divided?”
“Using globalization as a weapon, even people in sports, culture, arts and entertainment have been included, the abuse of sanctions will have disastrous consequences for the entire world,” he said.
While there may be cracks within the Chinese leadership’s strategy on Ukraine, China is unlikely to come up with a bold “peace deal”. Foreign minister Wang Yi commented on the Biden-Xi call by saying, “Time will prove that China’s position is on the right side of history.”
On Sunday, “Three key messages released after the video call between China and the US” was the number one search trend on Baidu.
The hashtag “Video call between heads of China and the US” trended on Weibo, and was viewed 240 million times.
On the day of the call with Biden, Xi spoke to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The read-out of the calls says Xi briefly discussed the Ukraine issue with both the leaders and reaffirmed that China shared South Africa and Cambodia’s views on the war.
The recently concluded lianghui (Two Sessions) in Beijing may have seemed like a routine affair with Xi Jinping at the CCP’s helm. But The Wall Street Journal has revealed new details about tensions between Chinese leaders ahead of the 20th Party Congress in November.
“Some party “elders,” or retired leaders who still have a say in political discourse, have recently spoken up against Mr Xi’s desire to break with the established leadership-succession system, according to the insiders. They include former Premier Zhu Rongji, an elder statesman known as Boss Zhu in China and an economic reformer admired by the West,” Lingling Wei of WSJ reported, citing CCP sources.
Though premier Li Keqiang announced he was stepping down last week, we have learned that he may continue in a different role. “They said that even though Mr Li’s term as premier will soon end, he is likely to stay on in a different leadership position,” the WSJ report added.
Wang Jixian, a Chinese vlogger based in Ukraine, thought that he could inform the Chinese public about the latest developments as Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine rages on. But Wang is now being called a “national traitor” by people back home.
Wang began posting on social media about his experience of living through the war after seeing some Chinese videos praising the invasion.
“I don’t understand how I ‘betrayed’ the country,” Wang told CNN in an interview after which his social media accounts were banned.
Wang’s only mistake was broadcasting the authentic images of war from Ukraine, which have been censored by Chinese State media.
Also read: Covid rising in China, but Xi busy colluding with Russia against US—and looking at Taiwan
China in world news
According to Politico, a senior European Union official has told the publication that EU leaders are in possession of “very reliable evidence” that China is considering providing military assistance to Russia. The revelations came after Financial Times reported that Russia had requested China for military assistance.
China’s immediate support for Russia remains unclear. According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, Valery Kudinov, an official at Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, was fired for revealing details about China’s refusal to supply aircraft parts to Russia.
This week, we learned that the Chinese side proposed a visit by foreign minister Wang Yi to India. Wang will be in Pakistan on 22-23 March for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting and will visit Nepal on 26-27 March. According to Hindustan Times, India is “non-committal” on the reports of the visit. For now, it’s unclear if Wang will visit Delhi.
What you must read this week
Tricks of the External Propaganda Trade — Stella Chen
China’s Instagram Wants More Male Users. It’s Using Women as Bait — Zhang Wanqing
China’s Information Dark Age Could Be Russia’s Future — Li Yuan
PodWorld
Maria Repnikova is a rare expert with dual specialisation in China and Russia. SupChina’s Kaiser Kuo spoke to Maria about China’s soft power and the complex realities of the Russia-Ukraine war. Chinascope recommends listening to the conversation.
The author is a columnist and a freelance journalist, currently pursuing an MSc in international politics with focus on China from School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He was previously a China media journalist at the BBC World Service. He tweets @aadilbrar. Views are personal.
This is a weekly round-up that Aadil Brar writes about what’s buzzing in China. This will soon be available as a subscribers’-only product.
(Edited by Prashant)