The Sunday Times: Xi Jinping’s goal to be the sole victor in the Russo-Ukrainian war

The Sunday Times published an article by Chinese affairs journalist Katie Stallard, in which she said that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow aims to ensure that there is only one victor in the Ukrainian war – Xi Jinping.

Stallard cut short at the beginning of her article that the Chinese president did not go to Moscow to make peace, stressing that Xi wants to ensure that Russia does not lose the war.

China’s economic support for Vladimir Putin’s regime during that war.

It also monitored Washington’s warning, last month, of the consequences of Beijing’s military support for Russia as well.

Stallard cautioned that this support on the part of Xi doesn’t stem from love for Putin, and that the Chinese president is looking to compensate for what his commitment to close relations with Putin’s regime cost him.

Stallard drew attention in her article to the commercial dimension of these relations, from which Beijing benefited greatly last year, noting that China supplies Russian oil and gas, which reach it directly through the common borders between the two countries, as neither the United States nor any of its allies can cut off the arrival of these supplies in any futuristic conflicts.

There’s also the military dimension, and here Stallard monitored President Xi’s desire to complete a rapid modernization process for the Chinese army by 2027, noting that this process relies on advanced Russian weapons systems.

The deterioration of relations at an accelerating pace between China and the United States, monitoring a speech that Xi made before his country’s parliament earlier this month about a campaign led by Washington and its Western allies to contain, encircle and suppress China.

Stallard warned that the Chinese president sees his Russian counterpart as a fateful partner in this conflict.

Both men are authoritarian leaders of a superpower with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and a Veto.

Both men are also in the process of launching international relations outside the Western fold.

Beijing fears that if Russia faces a humiliating defeat in Ukraine, Washington will turn all its focus to China.

Nevertheless, the Chinese president also wishes to present himself as a great statesman who works tirelessly for world peace.

Perhaps it was no coincidence that Xi went to Moscow so soon after it was announced that China had succeeded in concluding an agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

In this regard, the author referred to reports of Xi’s intention to call Ukrainian President Vlodomir Zelensky after speaking with Putin.

The Chinese president knows there is no real chance of an imminent negotiation between Russia and Ukraine because neither side is willing to make concessions, especially as they believe they can win.

Nevertheless, there is no harm, and indeed, the gains surround the scene in which the Chinese president stands as a potential peacemaker, if only the opportunity arises.

Thus, Xi Jinping appears as the greatest victor in that war.