Russia’s Attack On Ukraine Reveals Political Fault Lines In Asia

But Russian strongman Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked assault on Ukraine has thrown Russia’s previously warm relations with the Asian powers into question.

Both China and India have refused to condemn Russia’s brutal invasion outright, and both abstained from voting on United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions demanding Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine.

But with the United States making clear it views countries that don’t condemn Putin’s war as aligned with Russia, the world’s two most populous nations are facing increased international pressure to speak out — or risk being seen as complicit.

That neither country has chosen to do so has illuminated Russia’s outsized influence in Asia, where arms sales and no-strings-attached trade have allowed Moscow to exploit regional fault lines and weaker ties to the West.

In the US and Europe, leaders have framed their response to the invasion as part of a broader ideological battle to uphold democratic freedoms and the rule of law. But for two of Asia’s major powers, those lines are more blurred, with experts suggesting India and China are motivated more by their own self interests.

China and Russia
As Russian troops massed on the border with Ukraine just weeks before Russia invaded, Xi and Putin had never seemed closer.

In a 5,000-word statement as the Beijing Winter Olympics kicked off, the pair said Russia and China’s relationship had “no limits.”

The countries racked up a record-breaking $146 billion in bilateral trade last year and continued a tradition of joint training with a large-scale combined military exercise.

The two share a 4,000-kilometer (2,458-mile) border, and China is Russia’s biggest trade partner (Russia doesn’t even make China’s top five).

But the real key behind their tightening ties are their mutual tensions with Washington.
Now their so-called limitless relationship is being tested.

Already, questions have been raised over how much Xi knew about Putin’s plans. A Western intelligence report indicated Chinese officials asked senior Russian officials in early February to wait until after the Beijing Olympics had finished before beginning an invasion.
So far, China has refused to condemn the Russian attack or call it an “invasion” and has said it understands Moscow’s “legitimate security concerns.” China’s state media has also parroted Russian talking points on Ukraine. And on Wednesday, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, said China won’t participate in sanctions.

But Beijing also has links to Ukraine, which counts China as its largest trading partner. Ukraine joined Xi’s flagship Belt and Road infrastructure and development initiative in 2017, and last year Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Ukraine as a potential “bridge to Europe” for China.

Freight trains to Europe run through Ukraine, and the country has been a major source of products like corn and barley for China — trade that might not have been disrupted had Russia executed a swift regime change, rather than what looks to be a drawn-out, destructive invasion.

In a call with his Ukrainian counterpart last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China was “deeply grieved” by the conflict.

And while there’s a chance China could benefit economically from a more reliant and isolated Russia, Beijing will also be worried its enterprises could become entangled in Western sanctions against Russia. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a development bank backed by Beijing, said Thursday it was suspending all of its activities in Russia as “the war in Ukraine unfolds.”
China will also have to contend with potential fallout in its relationships with the West.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has united Western allies like no other issue in recent years and China’s tacit support has not gone unnoticed.

Some analysts have pointed to parallels between Russia’s designs on Ukraine and fears over the future of Taiwan — a self-governing island democracy that China’s Communist Party claims as its own and has not ruled out taking by force.

“Ukraine is a wake-up call for Europe and North America and the other democracies,” said Steve Tsang, director of SOAS China Institute at the University of London.

“You will suddenly have countries in Europe and elsewhere realizing that they have to prepare for eventualities that since the end of the Cold War, over 30 years, we have not thought necessary.”

“In that context, the assertiveness of China and the Chinese declared ambitions over Taiwan will get a lot more countries more worried,” he said.

Source:- Cnn

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