China and #Putin’s war: 10 standout quotes from a shocking week in #news -- #China Boss update 3.04.22
Update
China and Putin’s war in the news.
“[T]he decisions Beijing makes over the coming days, its willingness to stand beside a pariah whose barbarism is provoking such global disgust, will shape global geo-politics for decades to come.”
-- Ian Williams, longtime foreign corespondent in Russia, China and the Far East for NBC and Channel 4 News (on LinkedIn)
“Russia is destroying what China is trying to build.”
-- Pete Sweeney, Reuters
Breakingviews - China’s Belt and Road strafed by Vladimir Putin (Pete Sweeney, Reuters)
Russia is destroying what China is trying to build. Having refused to condemn President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and suppressed domestic criticism of Russia, Beijing is alienating many eastern European countries where it is constructing trade, investment and technology relationships under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.
“[L]eadership preferences — especially Xi’s personal affinity toward Russia and Putin — also play a key role in driving alignment with Russia, arguably beyond China’s national interests.”
-- Yun Sun, Stimson Center
CHINA’S STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT OF RUSSIA: MORE COMPLICATED THAN YOU THINK (Yun Sun, War on the Rocks)
How can we understand China’s evaluation of Russia’s comprehensive power, and consequently, the alignment of China and Russia’s political, strategic, and economic visions? I find that a close alignment to counter the United States between Beijing and Moscow is primarily driven by their perceived “hostility by the U.S.” Meanwhile, leadership preferences — especially Xi’s personal affinity toward Russia and Putin — also play a key role in driving alignment with Russia, arguably beyond China’s national interests. However, these factors do not negate the fact that China and Russia differ fundamentally in their visions and approaches to the international system. Their alignment is based solely on their shared anti-U.S. agenda and leadership preferences. As such, the Chinese assessment of the long-term prospects of Sino-Russian relations is not as glorified as it seems.
“Does [China] want to be seen to be funding Putin’s war chest?”
--Stuart Lau, Politico
Will China fund Moscow’s war chest as Western sanctions bite? (Stuart Lau, Politico)
Soon enough Beijing will have to ponder the requests made by a Russian central bank facing tighter liquidity than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The key question for the Chinese leadership is: Does it want to be seen to be funding Putin's war chest?
“This year, the pressure on foreign trade will be huge and the situation will be very severe."
-- Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, March 1st press conference
China warns of 'huge' pressure on foreign trade as economic challenges mount (Reuters)
A top Chinese official warned on Tuesday that China's economy faces multiple challenges at home and abroad this year, including "huge" pressure from uncertainty over global trade and from still-lacklustre domestic consumption.
Foreign trade, which helped drive the world's second-largest economy last year, will be confronted by uncertain external demand and a high statistical base from 2021, said Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
"This year, the pressure on foreign trade will be huge and the situation will be very severe," Wang said at a press conference.
“China’s economic partnership with Putin’s Russia was stillborn at best.”
--Thomas Duesterberg, Forbes
China’s Historic Error On Ukraine (Thomas Duesterberg, Forbes)
China’s economic partnership with Putin’s Russia was stillborn at best. Russia’s commodity-dominated economy, suffering from demographic collapse and lack of innovative and entrepreneurial vigor, offers little to China other than a convenient source of oil, natural gas, some metal and grain. Russia has supplied advanced military equipment to China as it built modern capabilities. But China has already copied much of the underlying technologies and can produce them more efficiently than their northern partners—as is standard operating procedure for the Chinese with their trading partners. Seventy percent of Russian exports to China are in petroleum, natural gas and coal, all of which can be obtained from other sources.
“While Russia needs China for trade, Beijing has other priorities.”
-- Laura He, CNN analyst
Analysis: China can't do much to help Russia's sanction-hit economy (Laura He, CNN)
While Russia needs China for trade, Beijing has other priorities. The world's second largest economy is Russia's No. 1 trading partner, accounting for 16% of the value of its foreign trade, according to CNN Business' calculations based on 2020 figures from the World Trade Organization and Chinese customs data.
But for China, Russia matters a lot less: Trade between the two countries made up just 2% of China's total trade volume. The European Union and the United States have much larger shares.
“Russia’s war will impact your China business.”
-- Dan Harris, China Law Blog
Russia’s War Will Impact Your China Business (Dan Harris, China Law Blog)
Russia’s war will impact your China business.
We live in an interconnected world and what is happening with Ukraine will impact doing business with China. It’s just a question of how and by how much.
“Chinese firms are caught between a rock and a hard place.”
-- Jacob Gunter, Mercator Institute for China Studies
Sanctions Imposed on Russia Hurt Chinese Economy (Saibal Dasgupta, VOA)
"Chinese firms are caught between a rock and a hard place," Jacob Gunter, senior analyst at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, told VOA.
Chinese companies with operations in the U.S. or the European Union may fall victim to secondary effects of the sanctions if parent corporations in China maintain business links with Russia, he said.
“[P]ro-Moscow voices have become a strong presence on the Chinese internet.”
-- Quartz
A Russian e-commerce store in China is suddenly seeing brisk business (Quartz)
As China continues to refrain from criticizing Russia over its actions in Ukraine, where Russia’s military operations entered their seventh day, pro-Moscow voices have become a strong presence on the Chinese internet. While Chinese social media platforms such as short video app Douyin have removed tens of thousands of accounts and comments spreading fake information and provocative content about the crisis, empathetic and anti-war messaging from Chinese citizens has also been censored or muffled by the authorities.
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It’s not China-related, but I thought I’d see you off to the weekend with at least one “feel-good” story. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this video of Ukrainian footballer, Roman Yaremchuk, who cried after an unexpected standing ovation in Portugal.
See you next week.