Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony before Russia - China talks in narrow format at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 21, 2023. Sputnik/Sergei Karpukhin/Pool via Reuters
The Diplomat: The China-Russia Partnership After Prigozhin’s Mutiny: The View From Beijing
While Chinese analysts – and likely the government – recognize the weaknesses of the Putin regime, Beijing is unlikely to fundamentally reassess its alignment with Moscow in the near term.
June 24 saw the swift beginning and end of a puzzling series of events in Russia. The mercurial Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the private military contractor Wagner Group, announced that his fighters would be undertaking what he termed a “march for justice” aimed squarely against the “incompetence” of the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense, namely Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov.
Read more ....
Update #1: What Beijing’s muted response to Wagner mutiny tells us about China-Russia relations – and what it doesn’t (The Conversation)
Update #2: Wagner mutiny shows China’s ‘no limits’ partnership with Russia is a risky bet (SCMP)
WNU Editor: There has been a lot of commentary in the past week on China's response to the Wagner mutiny. The consensus among most of the pundits is that there will be no change in the relationship.
I disagree.
I personally think Beijing is going to double down on its support for Putin. Beijing views its relationship with Russia as a vital strategic security ally that must be defended. Any threat to Putin's rule is not in China's interest.
So how will China respond?
Aside from continuing to provide political support, they will primarily respond by pumping even more money into the Russian economy and government coffers by doing things like this .... China is now importing more Russian oil than ever before - and Europe has almost entirely stopped buying crude from Moscow (Business Insider).
I don't believe this was a "Wagner mutiny". I think it was a purge.
ReplyDeleteWagner Group is split, the best will not serve Prigozhin on a plate, they prefer to protect the Russian homeland, but they already know the FSB is much worse and the hunt has already begun, we still have the Chinese PLA agents
ReplyDeleteJoe Biden made relationships of a different sort.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Biden himself contacted University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann in 2018 as his granddaughter Maisy Biden applied to the school, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
Biden subsequently nominated Gutmann to serve as United States ambassador to Germany in 2021. She took up the post in February 2022, according to a State Department news release from the time.
If Gutman had gotten the ambassadorship for being a bundler, it would have stank less.
ReplyDeleteRussInSoCal said...
"I don't believe this was a "Wagner mutiny". I think it was a purge."
That had crossed my mind also.
Falco : I have been told of a certain sea snake which has a very unusual method of attracting its prey. It will lie at the bottom of the ocean as if wounded. Then its enemies will approach, and yet it will lie quite still. And then its enemies will take little bites of it, and yet it remains still.
Commodus : So, we will lie still, and let our enemies come to us and nibble. Have every senator followed.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/characters/nm0774516