Fact:
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to European diplomats: “China cannot afford a Russian defeat in Ukraine”.
Supposition:
The reason? Beijing reportedly fears that a vanquished Russia would allow the United States to shift its entire strategic focus onto China, a fear which is probably not unfounded given US President Trump’s openly anti-China rhetoric and policies.
I fully support Ukraine, but I don’t agree with their guess at a reason for the statement from Minister Wang Yi. I’m thinking that China needs to cement the legitimacy of invading sovereign territories with ethnically similar populations so that China can get political cover when it wants to invade Taiwan. If China is successful in getting the world to accept some or all of Ukraine being held by Russia, then there will be no grounds for the world to oppose the invasion and capture of Taiwan by China.
So, if this reporting is accurate, China is propping up Russia’s atrocities because it fears US aggression. So once again, US policy is fueling death and destruction somewhere in the world.
Real “look what you’re making me do” mentality right here.
If “fears US aggression” is code for “fears reprisals from the US if they try the same thing with Taiwan” then your first sentence is correct.
The US military existing and being ready to respond has historically kept a whole bunch of other players behaving more peacefully than they would otherwise do. The problem is when you get an unpredictable administration in power, which is when other countries start testing the waters and the US military is used unwisely.
You think China would be on Ukraine’s side if they didn’t have problems with the US? I don’t think so.
