Senior US diplomat expresses doubt that the deepening of relations between Beijing and Moscow is based on a “conviction”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismissed deepening ties between China and Russia as a “marriage of convenience.”
Blinken made the comments Wednesday after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were filmed saying warm goodbyes at the end of two days of closely watched meetings in Moscow.
“Partly as a result of having a very different worldview than we do, they have a marriage of convenience,” Blinken told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “I’m not sure if it’s conviction.”
Blinken said Russia is “very much the junior partner” in the relationship, noting that China had so far refused to provide Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine.
“As we speak today, we haven’t seen them cross that line,” Blinken said.
Blinken said that while China hoped to replace the US-led international order with its own “illiberal” vision, Russia did not seem to have a coherent ideology apart from “world disorder.”
In a video of Xi’s departure from Russia on Wednesday, the Chinese leader is seen telling Putin that there are changes the “tastes we haven’t seen in 100 years” and that the two men are “driving these changes together.”
Xi also told Putin: “Take care, dear friend,” to which the Russian leader replied: “Have a safe trip.”
The talks were the latest example of deepening ties between Beijing and Moscow, who share a mutual suspicion of the West, since the announcement of a “no limits” partnership in February last year.
While in Moscow, Xi reiterated a 12-point peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, which Putin welcomed, saying “correlates with the point of view” of the Kremlin.
The United States has reacted to the plan with skepticism, warning that the proposals would allow Moscow to solidify its territorial gains in the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he remains open to proposals from China, but any deal would depend on the full withdrawal of Russian forces from occupied Ukrainian territory.
