The topic this time is “China may have thought this would be a quick-fix war, a surgical strike.”
I would like to share the article of Radio Free Asia, with the title:
"Interview: 'China may have thought this would be a quick-fix war, a surgical strike.'
China doesn't appear to believe it can influence Putin one way or another, according to a strategic expert."
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping has referred to Russian president Vladimir Putin as his best friend.
But Russia's invasion of Ukraine has cast doubts on whether Beijing is a more opportunistic partner wrong-footed by the global backlash against Putin, or a long-term cast-iron ally of the Kremlin.
The bilateral relationship is complicated by the fact that China imports a good deal of grain from both Russia and Ukraine, and is facing a poor harvest of its own this year due to heavy rains.
Rita Cheng of RFA's Mandarin Service spoke to Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program, about the strategic implications of Russia's war for Beijing:
