Putin has gone begging to Beijing once again, and the vassal status of Moscow can no longer be denied.
Mr Putin came to China cap in hand, eager for Beijing to continue trading with a heavily sanctioned and isolated Russia. His statements were filled with honeyed tones and flattering phrases.
He said that his family were learning Mandarin – this was particularly noteworthy because he very rarely talks about his children in public.
He declared that he and Mr Xi were “as close as brothers” and went on to praise China’s economy, saying it was “developing in leaps and bounds, at a fast pace”. This will likely play well with Beijing officials worried by a sluggish economy.
But Mr Xi himself did not echo the tone of these lofty compliments. Instead, his remarks were more perfunctory – even bland. Mr Putin, he said, was a “good friend and a good neighbour”. For China, the welcome ceremony and show of unity is in its interests, but lavishing its guest with praise is not.
The costly war in Ukraine, which no shows no signs of ending, has changed their relationship, exposing the weaknesses in Russia’s army and its economy. Mr Xi will know that he is now in charge. __ China Owns Putin Now
Moscow is once again a satrapy of an eastern power, even if no one is saying it out loud. Putin serves as viceroy, for now. But Russia is no longer its own country. That is the price Putin had to pay for his folly in Ukraine. Over time, it will become more impossible to deny the new reality.
You can even see the sly grin on Xi’s face, imagining all the plunder to come.
In fact, “relations between China and Russia are on a knife’s edge,” Michael Dillon told RFI, adding that Putin “did not notify the Chinese in advance” of his planned invasion of Ukraine, when he met Xi just two weeks before Russian troops stormed across the border.
That may have stirred up memories of the Korean War (1950-53) where China “seems to have been dragged in against its own best interest” and witnessed hundreds of its nationals killed in action….
If the Ukraine war goes badly for Russia, China may not hesitate to dust off old territorial claims.
By insisting on giving Chinese names to cities in certain Russian territories, Beijing is letting Moscow know that it has not forgotten the vast territories it regards as historically Chinese. __ China Will Not Stop With Manchuria and the Far East
Chinese workers are moving across the border to replace the Russian men who are lost to war, emigration, and internal decay. China has 50 million too many men, it can spare them. Russia’s women often prefer Chinese men, when given a choice — as in the Far East. The replacement will be swift and virtually bloodless.
China has problems of its own, but Russia’s problem of its disappearing men is more immediate and existential. Russia can trade energy, clean water, and farmland to China. China can take over Russia’s industries and the role of “man of the house.”
If the Russian people understood what Putin had given up for his continued figurehead status, some of them might raise objections. But like true serfs, most Russians live in a permanently stunned and paralyzed state.
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