Xi's Russia visit may not end war in Ukraine but ensures multipolar world

Chinese President Xi Jinping's three-day official visit to Russia this week could boost the bilateral relations between Beijing and Moscow but China’s peace plan will not end the war in Ukraine any time soon, according to experts.

Both sides agreed on cooperation in various areas “deepening the strategic partnership of coordination for the new era”, said a statement issued after the meeting, Anadolu reports.

As the two bigwigs of the East cozy up, China-US relations have deteriorated with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponing indefinitely his visit to China due to a Chinese balloon flying over the country.

Xi's visit happened at a time when Russia and China both strongly oppose the American-led new world.

Speaking to Anadolu via e-mail, Amanda Hsiao, Crisis Group's senior analyst for China, said that the deepening economic relationship between Russia and China is and will continue to be a big piece of the journey forward.

“Xi's decision to visit Moscow as his first trip overseas after securing a third term is meant to send a clear signal of the steadfastness of China-Russia ties despite Putin's increasing international isolation and the attendant costs to China's international image,” she added.

Alicia Garcia Herrero, who is a senior fellow at European think-tank Bruegel and the chief economist for Asia Pacific at French bank Natixis, believes that Xi's visit to Russia is a sign of strength for China and a sign of weakness for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“No matter how Putin may read it, it's basically that Xi Jinping is imposing the peace plan in Ukraine. Whether Putin will really accept it at the very end is a different issue,” she said in an e-mail.

China in February proposed a 12-point peace plan for dealing with the Russia-Ukraine war. Putin said that this plan could be utilized as the basis for the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine war. He added that Russia is "open to talks" for peace in the Ukraine conflict.

However, experts believe otherwise.

"China's peace plan is a list of general positions rather than a roadmap for how to get the two parties to sit down and start talking," Hsiao said.
“Beijing wants to promote an image of itself as a constructive actor for peace because it helps to fend off Western accusations that it is too supportive of Russia.”

Selcuk Colakoglu, a founding director of the Turkish Center for Asia Pacific Studies, said that China's primary goal in the Ukraine crisis is to prevent Russia's exclusion from the international system and to ensure the continuation of a multipolar policy vis-a-vis Western countries.
"Therefore, it is unacceptable for China to weaken Russia and push it out of the world political system."