The sight of Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting the Kremlin for Russia’s World War II Victory Day parade has rekindled the idea that China might finally pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
But it has been more than three years since Russia invaded its neighbor and little suggests that China is willing to support good-faith peace negotiations.
In fact, China has continued to back Russia diplomatically, economically and militarily. The Chinese government avoids referring to Putin’s aggression as an “invasion,” and even though it has not formally recognized Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, it has repeatedly abstained from United Nations votes condemning Putin’s war. Publicly, China echoes Russia’s narrative, blaming NATO and the West for the conflict. Chinese officials and state media accuse the United States of being “the real provocateur of the Ukrainian crisis,” and have warned it against further confrontation.
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