{"id":31873,"date":"2022-03-22T20:48:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T12:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/?p=31873"},"modified":"2022-03-23T20:25:44","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T12:25:44","slug":"ukraine-and-china-xi-jinping-plays-russian-roulette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2022\/03\/22\/31873\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine and China: Xi Jinping plays Russian Roulette"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cracks surface in \u201cno limits\u201d alliance with Putin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vincent Kolo, ISA<\/p>\n

\u201cOne who is not acquainted with the designs of his neighbours should not enter into alliances with them.\u201d These are the words of legendary military strategist Sun Tzu more than 2,000 years ago. Xi Jinping clearly did not heed this advice when he unveiled his historic \u201cno limits\u201d alliance with Vladimir Putin at the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics. This was just twenty days before Putin\u2019s armies invaded Ukraine.<\/p>\n

There is much speculation about what Xi and his inner core actually knew about Putin\u2019s war plans. Were they kept in the dark? That seems unlikely. Did Xi, like Putin, bet on a quick and overwhelming Russian military victory? That seems very plausible. Did Xi know more, but fail to brief the rest of the CCP\u2019s top leadership? That\u2019s possible. Whatever the case, both dictators badly miscalculated. And such mistakes could ultimately threaten their hold on power.<\/p>\n

There is a barely concealed split in the CCP regime (so-called Communist Party) and significant opposition to Xi\u2019s pro-Putin line, which is reflected to some extent in the contradictory messages emanating from Beijing. As the veteran China analyst Katsuji Nakazawa has noted there are disagreements over the alliance with Russia within the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, the CCP\u2019s ruling body: \u201cThe seven are not on the same page\u201d. Divisions over the war, and the fact that Xi\u2019s economic policies have also partly been overturned, threaten to dial up the CCP\u2019s internal power struggle.<\/p>\n

This comes at the worst possible time for Xi as he seeks \u201cstability\u201d in the run up to the 20th Congress and his Putin-like coronation as lifetime dictator. The CCP\u2019s anti-Xi faction headed by retiring premier Li Keqiang, who is backed by sections of the red capitalists and retired officials, is too weak to topple Xi, but their opposition to Xi\u2019s policies has become more open. To implement policy in such an acute stage of crisis, Xi\u2019s regime must be even more dictatorial and centralised. This creates a vicious cycle of instability.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat controversy\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cChina cannot be tied to Putin and needs to be cut off as soon as possible,\u201d wrote Hu Wei, a political scientist affiliated with the Counselor\u2019s Office of the State Council (the government under Li Keqiang). Hu\u2019s essay was widely circulated to top leaders during the \u2018two sessions\u2019 (NPC and CPPCC) in early March, and was then deleted from the internet and blocked by censors. This document is significant for its unusually strident criticism of Xi\u2019s position, not by name of course, and because its ideas evidently enjoy considerable support among top officials. Hu says the war has caused \u201cgreat controversy in China\u201d with opinion \u201cdivided into two implacably opposing sides\u201d. He warns, \u201cThere is still a window period of one or two weeks before China loses its wiggle room.\u201d To distance itself from Russia, \u201cChina must act decisively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hu\u2019s comments are the sharpest expression yet of divisions within the Chinese ruling class over Xi\u2019s nationalistic \u2018wolf warrior\u2019 foreign policy, with the Xi-Putin alliance being its latest and most controversial installment. A significant section of the CCP officialdom and allied capitalist interests believe Xi\u2019s nationalistic line has become increasingly counter-productive, harming the economy and reinforcing the anti-China narrative of US imperialism. But with Xi having put his personal stamp on the alliance with Russia, the Chinese regime has boxed itself into a corner. At most there may be a change of tone rather than substance. To \u201ccut off\u201d Putin, as Hu Wei advocates, would represent a serious blow to Xi\u2019s strongman persona, which has been studiously built up over the past decade.<\/p>\n

How great Beijing\u2019s difficulties become also depends on the course of the war. A long war, dragging on for months with increased terror-bombing of besieged cities, is a nightmare scenario for the CCP that would make its \u201cfake neutrality\u201d impossible to sustain. An even worse scenario for Xi Jinping would be the fall of Putin, either through a popular uprising or a palace coup, which would send shockwaves through China. For these reasons, while trying to manoeuvre and obfuscate, Xi\u2019s regime will do its utmost to help Putin stay in power.<\/p>\n

The contradictory official \u201cneutrality\u201d of the Chinese regime in this war has already damaged the authority of Xi, who tries to portray himself as a nationalist strongman who dares to stand up to the US. Externally, the CCP\u2019s rhetoric towards Biden is vague and diplomatic, distancing itself from Russia, while its domestic propaganda promotes nationalism and is heavily pro-Russia. The sharp contrast has been noted by a certain layer of the masses, undermining Xi\u2019s nationalist propaganda on one hand and at the same time exposing the hypocrisy of his global \u201cpeacemaker\u201d image. A \u201cgreat translation campaign\u201d has been organised mostly by overseas Chinese to translate the arrogant nationalistic, racist and sexist commentaries of state-controlled media and social media into English. This campaign reflects the mood of a layer of Chinese disgusted by the CCP\u2019s fraudulent propaganda.<\/p>\n

Truman Doctrine<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Putin and Russian capitalism the Ukraine war may rank alongside the disastrous decision of US imperialism to invade Iraq in 2003. The US under Bush completely underestimated the ethno-political quagmire they were jumping into. Putin has misjudged everything from Russia\u2019s military capabilities and the strength of Ukrainian resistance (he denounces Lenin\u2019s teachings on the national question and is paying the price for this ignorance), to the world situation and the scale of Western imperialism\u2019s reaction. Xi Jinping, by tying his regime so closely and publicly to Putin\u2019s, has exposed China to the risk of diplomatic isolation and potentially devastating economic costs in the form of accelerated Western decoupling. This can happen regardless of whether China is officially targeted with sanctions as a result of its pro-Russia position.<\/p>\n

ISA has explained that the Ukraine war has changed everything. The Financial Times, strategizing on behalf of Western capitalism, describes this moment as \u201ca geopolitical pivot point\u201d, and urges Washington to proclaim a new version of the 1947 Truman Doctrine (which divided countries into \u201cfor\u201d or \u201cagainst\u201d US imperialism). In the short-term Russia\u2019s invasion has strengthened Western capitalist governments who are embarking on \u2018shock doctrine\u2019-style militarisation, unprecedented state interventions in financial markets (the sanctions against Russia), and are meeting much greater success in disguising their policies as a defence of \u2018democracy\u2019 against \u2018autocracy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The new Cold War between the US and China, which has been developing for several years, has therefore undergone a \u2018Great Leap Forward\u2019 since the Russian invasion began. More rapid economic deglobalisation is now inevitable. Russia\u2019s invasion has at least in the short-term healed the internal divisions in the Western camp, between the EU on one hand and the US-led Anglosphere-bloc on the other. Japan\u2019s former prime minister Shinzo Abe has called for US nuclear weapons to be stationed in Japan while Germany becomes the world\u2019s third biggest military spender. At a stroke, the Ukraine war has wiped away the remains of post-1945 world order.<\/p>\n

Disaster capitalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

This level of Western cohesion is something Chinese diplomacy has been working hard to prevent ever since the time of Obama and Trump. Putin\u2019s war has therefore enormously facilitated Biden\u2019s strategy of building a \u201cdemocratic\u201d imperialist coalition to pin back China and Russia. Xi\u2019s de facto support for the Russian invasion has made it much easier for US imperialism to conduct a proxy war against China, as its main long-term target, under the cover of the conflict with Russia. The nature and scale of the Western sanctions against Russia are a crucial part of this proxy war.<\/p>\n

The sharp escalation of conflict with Russia is therefore inseparable from the US-China conflict. Biden has been pushing for a stronger alliance with Europe, especially through NATO, reversing the isolationist \u2018America First\u2019 policy of Trump. The aim is to isolate China in international politics and increase the pressure upon it in the contested areas of the Indo-Pacific, such as the South China Sea and Taiwan. In the long-term, Asia is strategically more important for US imperialism than Ukraine and Eastern Europe. All this means the Ukraine war is a rehearsal for further global conflicts developing in future.<\/p>\n

Socialists oppose Russia\u2019s invasion and the imperialist agendas of Putin on one side but also NATO and US imperialism on the other. The horrific plight of the people of Ukraine is a warning of the horrors that await humanity under \u2018disaster capitalism\u2019, which on top of climate collapse and deadly pandemics now also raises the spectre of military conflicts between nuclear powers. We point to the heroic anti-war protests inside Russia and the need for working class internationalism, firstly in solidarity with the Ukrainian masses, but linking this to the need to fight the militarism and anti-working policies of all the capitalist governments. We refer our readers to the detailed socialist analysis of ISA published on internationalsocialist.net<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The actions and pronouncements of all the imperialist powers are cynical and dishonest. Putin flagrantly denies Ukraine\u2019s right to exist as a nation state. Wang Yi tells the world that China, \u201cfirmly advocates respecting and safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries,\u201d but Chinese media only broadcasts Russian accounts of the conflict and refuse to use the word \u201cinvasion\u201d. Biden, Johnson and Scholz are not driven by concerns for the Ukrainian people but of extracting maximum geopolitical benefit from Putin\u2019s problems. Years of political manoeuvring by the US and NATO, with Ukraine\u2019s right-wing capitalist government a useful pawn, helped to sow the seeds of war. Now NATO is prepared to \u201cfight to the last Ukrainian\u201d, applauding the courage of its resistance, but seeking to localise and contain the conflict \u2013 as shown by the saga of the \u201cunwanted\u201d Polish fighter planes.<\/p>\n

China as a superpower<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is the most serious international crisis for the CCP regime since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Stalinist dictatorships in Eastern Europe thirty years ago. This is the first such crisis with China as the number two superpower, closely challenging the US as an imperialist power with global spheres of interest, gigantic corporations, and huge investments to defend. In 1992, China was not even among the top ten economies worldwide. It was a low-profile bystander focusing on its own internal problems (completing the restoration of capitalism after crushing the mass revolt of 1989). Today, as the second largest economy, China is far more integrated into the global financial and trading system than Russia, the 11th largest economy. For Chinese capitalism, the threat of being shut out of Western markets by sanctions is far greater than for Russia.<\/p>\n

Socialists oppose the sanctions, which are a tool of finance capital in the most powerful capitalist states and can be used against workers and socialist struggle in the future. In Hong Kong and Xinjiang, ISA opposed the Western sanctions warning they would not stop Chinese state repression but rather weaken and demobilise the mass struggle. The sanctions against Russia are immeasurably more powerful, but our opposition is not based on the intensity of the sanctions, rather on which class is wielding this power, to achieve what ends.<\/p>\n

5.5 percent GDP\u2008growth?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While Ukraine burns, China stands to rack up massive economic losses, even if the CCP\u2019s diplomatic acrobatics (supporting peace in words while protecting Putin in deeds) manage to shield it from US and Western sanctions. China is the world\u2019s largest oil importer, importing 70 percent of its oil and 40 percent of its gas. With oil prices already up 60 percent in 2021, the price of oil has risen 11 percent since the Russian army crossed into Ukraine. Increased coal usage and even faster climate destruction will be the result.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s agriculture minister warned in March that this year\u2019s wheat harvest \u201ccould be the worst in history\u201d due to heavy rains. The country will need to increase its imports by around 50 percent, with global wheat prices surging 50 percent to record highs since the invasion. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for a quarter of global wheat exports, but sanctions and the war have cut off this supply from world markets. Skyrocketing global food prices threaten mass hunger and \u201cbread riots\u201d in many developing countries.<\/p>\n

But it is the threat of secondary sanctions \u2013 being dragged into the US-led sanctions web that has been spun around Russia \u2013 that could potentially deal a severe blow to China\u2019s economy at a time of seriously flagging domestic growth. At the National People\u2019s Congress on 5 March, the government announced a 5.5 percent GDP target for 2022, the lowest target in almost three decades. Most economists doubt this can be achieved. The number appears to be more of a \u201cconfidence boosting measure\u201d than an actual target \u2013 the IMF along with others forecasts 4.8 percent growth this year. But for the government to adopt anything below five percent would have been an admission of defeat, with real consequences.<\/p>\n

Even without the dangerous economic ramifications arising from the war, China\u2019s economy was facing serious problems: the slow-motion collapse of the property sector, rising unemployment, comatose consumer spending and the disruption of supply chains resulting from the citywide lockdowns imposed to defeat the spread of Omicron. Xi\u2019s regime is committed to continue with its \u2018dynamic zero-Covid\u2019 policy, despite this method failing in Hong Kong, which now has over one million cases of Covid and the highest per capita death rate of any country in the pandemic. Morgan Stanley predict zero growth in the first quarter as a result of Omicron. China\u2019s main driver of economic growth, the housing market, has been contracting for six months (both in terms of prices and sales volumes), despite a government u-turn relaxing credit controls, easing monetary policy and abandoning plans for a property tax that Xi had championed.<\/p>\n

The CCP did not expect or plan for Putin\u2019s war. The exact reasons why Xi\u2019s regime lost focus so completely at such a crucial juncture in the Sino-US Cold War reveal a lot about the weaknesses and internal contradictions of the regime. The first Wuhan outbreak, Hong Kong\u2019s mass revolt in 2019, Trump\u2019s trade war in 2018 \u2013 Xi was caught off guard every time. In light of what has since transpired, the 5,000-word joint communiqu\u00e9 of 4 February announcing an upgraded \u201cno limits\u201d strategic partnership with Russia \u2013 \u201cmore than an alliance\u201d in Xi\u2019s words \u2013 has come back to bite him. It was the Chinese leader rather than Putin that initiated the new agreement, mainly to boost his own authority on the stage of the Beijing Winter Olympics, largely shunned or boycotted by world leaders (only 21 attended compared to 68 in 2008). For Xi, with his whole focus on extending his rule at the 20th Congress later this year, the Olympics was the equivalent of an election rally in a bourgeois democracy \u2013 all fireworks and patriotism.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike two brothers\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is significant for the top leaders to metaphor the two nations\u2019 strategic partnership as \u2018back-to-back\u2019 \u2013 meaning the two countries, like two brothers, leave one\u2019s own back to the other to defend\u2026\u201d, commented the CCP\u2019s Global Times (13 February). Such rhetoric has not aged well. China\u2019s diplomats now attempt to duck and weave to avoid being hit with Western sanctions as Putin\u2019s \u201caccomplice\u201d. There is not so much new substance to the 4 February agreement \u2013 some repackaging and expansion of existing energy and technology deals between the two countries. The purpose was mostly messaging: a common front against the US. But with Putin on the cusp of launching the biggest European war in 80 years, Xi\u2019s move was spectacularly ill-timed.<\/p>\n

Xi gambled that his regime would gain from the military tensions in Europe, which would force Biden\u2019s administration to shift its focus away from the Indo-Pacific and China. Like Putin, Xi probably calculated that the divisions between US imperialism and the EU, especially Germany, would widen. Furthermore, showing that the two dictators are not \u201cbrothers\u201d and their alliance is actually one of tactical convenience, Xi saw advantages from Russia\u2019s increased dependence on China as the dominant partner, a reversal of the situation in the 1950s Cold War when as Stalinist dictatorships, China was very much the junior partner to the Soviet Union. If Putin\u2019s aggressive diplomacy and threats against Ukraine had succeeded, meeting only protests from Western capitalism (as was the case with Xi\u2019s crackdown in Hong Kong), that would have boosted the CCP\u2019s designs on Taiwan.<\/p>\n

For these reasons, whether Xi was fully aware of the plans to invade Ukraine or not, he may have relished a situation in which China looked on while Putin created problems for the West. However, on 24 February all these supposed pluses turned to minuses.<\/p>\n

Xi risks becoming the Chinese leader who \u201clost Europe\u201d. Attempts through trade diplomacy and praising Europe\u2019s \u201csovereignty\u201d to separate the EU, and especially Germany, with its heavy dependence on the Chinese economy, from Biden\u2019s anti-China strategy, have been a key feature of Chinese diplomacy. This encountered serious setbacks in the past year (the collapse of the CAI deal, Xinjiang sanctions, Angela Merkel\u2019s retirement, the \u201cLithuanian incident\u201d) but the Ukraine war and China\u2019s relationship with Putin could become the final nail in the coffin. US imperialism is of course actively working to achieve this, with far greater success in the shadow of war.<\/p>\n

Imperialist divisions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Biden\u2019s call with Xi Jinping on 18 March was partly staged for European ears \u2013 with both presidents tailoring their remarks for Brussels and especially Berlin. Biden warned of \u201cconsequences\u201d if China provides military aid to Russia or helps it to circumvent Western sanctions, claiming to have intelligence reports to this effect. The US is therefore effectively laying down a \u2018red line\u2019 for China, and increasing the pressure on Europe to back it. The severe effects of the sanctions in Russia makes this threat very real for Beijing.<\/p>\n

The EU is already split over tightening the sanctions against Russia. An EU diplomat told the Times that three camps have formed. There are the hardcore so-called \u2018sanctionistas\u2019 such as Poland and the Baltic states, who are closest to the war and most at risk of military escalation. They favour even tougher sanctions such as a total ban on Russian energy exports. There are the \u2018contras\u2019 on the opposite wing, Germany supported by Italy, Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria, who are resisting tougher sanctions. And then there are the rest.<\/p>\n

These internal divisions largely correspond to earlier divisions over China \u2013 Orban\u2019s Hungary is in the pro-China camp, as traditionally has Germany (China accounted for 38 percent of German car companies\u2019 sales in 2021), while on the opposite wing, Lithuania engaged in a \u2018David vs. Goliath\u2019 battle with China which last year morphed into a wider EU trade crisis. The Ukraine war has cut deep into Xi\u2019s signature Belt and Road Initiative. As with the sanctions and other effects of the war, the damage could be permanent, lasting long after the war ends. Ukraine is a key BRI country as is Russia of course. Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia are BRI members supporting Ukraine, while BRI member Belarus is on Russia\u2019s side in the war. How ironic that the CCP has framed the BRI as a force for \u201cpeace and cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n

This will force Beijing into a major re-evaluation of the BRI as a whole, which was already encountering significant problems, stalled projects and disputes, as a result of the growing debt crisis in many BRI countries. In Eastern Europe, billions of dollars\u2019 worth of Chinese investments are now in jeopardy due to Putin\u2019s war, with almost $3 billion of construction projects in Ukraine alone. China\u2019s 17+1 group of Eastern European countries, a forum for Chinese investments that overlaps with the BRI, could also shatter. Lithuania left the group last year, and the dominant Western powers within the EU have always regarded the 17+1 group as a Chinese encroachment in their \u2018backyard\u2019. This could lead to a more powerful pushback against China and pressure on the smaller national \u2018chess pieces\u2019 to cut their ties with the group.<\/p>\n

Taiwan and Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s future is linked with the Ukraine conflict, but not in a way that Xi Jinping originally envisioned. Chinese diplomacy has always insisted that Ukraine and Taiwan are \u201cnot the same\u201d, focusing on questions of legality and \u201csovereignty\u201d, which as Putin has demonstrated are in the final analysis no barrier against a hungry capitalist regime. Taiwan is not a \u201ccountry\u201d says the CCP, while disagreeing with Putin over whether Ukraine deserves this distinction.<\/p>\n

For socialists our attitude is formed by far more fundamental considerations: national consciousness (which clearly applies in both Ukraine and Taiwan), democratic aspirations, fear of authoritarian rule and military aggression. Under the system of capitalism and imperialism the masses of both countries are unfortunately trapped between bigger powers whose agendas exclude the realisation of genuine peace or democracy. For more on our position on the Taiwan conflict see Will There Be a Taiwan War?<\/a> on internationalsocialist.net<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Xi Jinping perhaps believed the Ukraine conflict would strengthen his hand in the Taiwan Strait by diverting US military resources to Europe and putting greater pressure on Japan through his alliance with Russia. Possibly, he hoped that in the event of a swift and convincing Russian victory the West would be exposed as a paper tiger. This has not happened. Rather the reverse is happening and Xi\u2019s strategy to \u201creunify\u201d with Taiwan looks more problematic than ever. This, however, does not mean that a Taiwan war or Chinese attack is ruled out in the long-term, as some wrongly imagine. The latter includes the small group that left ISA in Taiwan last year, who now dismiss the threat of Chinese military action as a \u201cbluff\u201d, and from this naive conclusion no longer see the need to link the independence struggle to socialism and a common struggle with workers in China.<\/p>\n

The miserable execution of Putin\u2019s invasion to date, and possible heavy Russian losses (unconfirmed), should serve as a wakeup call to the hardliners in the People\u2019s Liberation Army (PLA) that an attack on Taiwan could go badly wrong. The Russian army is far more battle-hardened than China\u2019s, and a land invasion in Ukraine is a more straightforward proposition than an amphibious attack on Taiwan, which military experts predict would be at least as difficult as the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy. Xi Jinping will not risk war unless he is confident of victory, because military defeat could spell the end of his regime. But Putin was also confident. Therefore, if anything, the Ukraine war will cause doubts and a major strategic re-evaluation in Chinese military circles.<\/p>\n

If Putin\u2019s plan is to occupy Ukraine, a goal that looks less and less realistic today, the US and NATO will probably respond by funding a right-wing Ukrainian insurgency. This could, over several years and at devastating human cost, succeed in wearing down Moscow\u2019s resolve but also tend to cut across and derail genuine mass struggle. This scenario too would ask uncomfortable questions of the CCP\u2019s Taiwan hawks. Even assuming the PLA could mount a successful invasion of Taiwan, controlling an island whose 23 million people by a huge majority do not want to be ruled by Beijing would over time lead to the exhaustion and disintegration of the occupying force.<\/p>\n

Rising nationalism<\/strong><\/p>\n

The upsurge of nationalism on both sides of the Taiwan Strait makes the situation even more volatile. Heightened fears in Taiwan that Putin\u2019s aggression may inspire his \u201cbest friend\u201d Xi to attack the island have bolstered support for the DPP government of Tsai-Ing Wen and its pro-US militarisation doctrine.<\/p>\n

A Taiwan International Strategic Study Society opinion poll in March found that 70.2 percent of Taiwanese are \u201cwilling to go to war\u201d to defend the island against China, compared with only 40.3 percent in a December poll. Like other governments, the DPP is using the crisis to manufacture \u201cnational unity\u201d as a means to stifle class struggle, and to push for more pro-capitalist trade agreements with the US and Japan in return for their \u201cprotection\u201d. Tsai is also pushing the envelope on increased arms spending and extending mandatory military service.<\/p>\n

On the Chinese side vociferous online \u2018wolf warrior\u2019 nationalism, which today is also interlaced with Putin worship and support for Russia, has been cultivated by the CCP over years, but now risks careering out of control. The \u2018little pinks\u2019 and other social media nationalists, some close to fascism, have become so strident and confident that their venom is no longer just directed against homosexuals, feminists, Taiwan \u201cseparatists\u201d and Hong Kongers, but even against former top CCP nationalists, as was the case with the former editor of the Global Times, Hu Xijin, who stepped down from his position last year. Managing these nationalist pressures is becoming increasingly complicated for Beijing which risks further losing any \u2018wiggle room\u2019 and the ability to pursue a more pragmatic foreign policy when needed.<\/p>\n

For the working class in Asia, Europe and worldwide, the Ukraine war opens the door onto an even more dangerous and tumultuous period of capitalist disorder. To end this and future wars the working class must settle accounts with capitalism and imperialism. Demonstrating and organizing against the war is a good start, but it is not enough by itself. The situation demands more than appeals and pressure on governments to change their policies. It demands the working class overcomes its lack of organization, lack of a voice, lack of power. The task of rebuilding a powerful socialist workers\u2019 movement against capitalism and militarism is more urgent than ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cracks surface in \u201cno limits\u201d alliance with Putin Vincent Kolo, ISA \u201cOne who is not acquainted with the designs of his neighbours should not enter into alliances with them.\u201d These are the words of legendary military strategist Sun Tzu more than 2,000 years ago. Xi Jinping clearly did not heed this advice when he unveiled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":31874,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[132,148,124,151],"tags":[216,37390,7678,247,4738,1584,915],"class_list":{"0":"post-31873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-china","8":"category-international","9":"category-news","10":"category-taiwan","11":"tag-imperialism","12":"tag-nato","13":"tag-putin","14":"tag-russia","15":"tag-tw-en","16":"tag-ukraine","17":"tag-xi-jinping"},"yoast_head":"\nUkraine and China: Xi Jinping plays Russian Roulette - China Worker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinaworker.info\/en\/2022\/03\/22\/31873\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ukraine and China: Xi Jinping plays Russian Roulette - China Worker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cracks surface in \u201cno limits\u201d alliance with Putin Vincent Kolo, ISA \u201cOne who is not acquainted with the designs of his neighbours should not enter into alliances with them.\u201d These are the words of legendary military strategist Sun Tzu more than 2,000 years ago. 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