Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu is currently visiting Russia. Experts believe that Beijing not only wants to support Putin when the Ukrainian war is protracted but also intends to take the opportunity to let Russia transfer its advanced military technology, because “Russia has no choice but to cooperate with Russia.” China maintains good relations and makes sacrifices.”
After Li Shangfu arrived in Moscow on Sunday (April 16), he was immediately received by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. Putin highly praised the military cooperation between the two countries. Li Shangfu said Sino-Russian relations are better than the Cold War military-political alliance.
During talks with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday, Li Shangfu said that the two sides will expand military cooperation, military technology exchanges, and arms trade, and vowed to “elevate the relationship between the two militaries to a new level.”
Shoigu said that Russia-China cooperation has a stabilizing effect on the international situation and helps ease tension.
This is Li Shangfu’s first visit abroad since he took office as Minister of Defense. During the period, he repeatedly emphasized that he deliberately chose Russia as his first foreign visit to emphasize the particularity and strategic significance of the relationship between the two countries.
The Ukrainian war has been a stalemate for more than a year, and the battlefield situation has undergone major changes repeatedly, and it is currently in a state of stalemate.
Robert Sutter, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University in the United States, said China also has a tradition of sending its defense minister to visit Russia when Russia is in trouble. The message sent by Li Shangfu’s trip is: “When you are challenged by others We are here to show our support.”
Russia’s official Sputnik News Agency quoted a diplomat as saying that the focus of the Chinese Defense Minister’s visit to Russia is to express support for Russia, and secondly, Li Shangfu is very interested in obtaining first-hand information on the situation and development of the military conflict in Ukraine.
Richard Weitz, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, an American think tank, said in an interview with Voice of America that Li Shangfu’s trip is to show the world that the military relationship between the two countries can “withstand the impact of Ukraine.”, it’s a very enduring relationship.”
Western countries are currently maintaining a high degree of vigilance over whether China provides military support to Russia, which is one of the important reasons why Li Shangfu’s visit to Russia has aroused great concern. “That’s the main problem people have,” says George Washington University’s Sutter. “The bottom line is, we really don’t know.”
The Washington Post recently reported that the leaked secret documents of the US Department of Defense revealed that the Russian intelligence intercepted by the US showed that China had agreed to provide military assistance to Russia.
A senior adviser to the Ukrainian president’s office told Reuters last week that the Ukrainian military had detected an increased number of Chinese components in Russian weapons.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Monday that any form of Chinese military support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine was unacceptable. “China must refrain from providing any form of direct or indirect military assistance to support Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Borrell said in an interview with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting.
Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, China has strengthened its relationship with Russia on the one hand, and on the other hand, has not broken openly with Ukraine. Although the United States and other Western countries often criticize China on the issue of the Ukrainian war, Ukraine has always been cautious in its words and deeds. The 12-point peace proposal put forward by China was scoffed at by the United States and other allies, but Ukrainian President Zelensky did not completely reject it.
Ukraine seems to have always held out hope for China, and Zelensky has repeatedly mentioned that China has stated respect for territorial integrity. China’s Ministry of Defense again referred to territorial integrity in a brief statement issued Tuesday on Li Shangfu’s visit to Russia. The statement said that during the official talks between Li Shangfu and Shoigu, the two sides reiterated their firm support for each other on issues including the maintenance of territorial integrity.
The Chinese and Ukrainian foreign ministers have had contact since the Ukrainian war, but Xi Jinping and Zelensky have never held talks. A number of Western media reported last month that Xi Jinping planned to hold the first dialogue with Zelensky since the beginning of the Ukraine war, but there has been no news. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who just returned from a visit to China, said Monday that Xi had told her he was willing to talk to Zelenskiy “when the conditions and the time are right.”
The Chinese Defense Ministry statement on Tuesday also said that during Li Shangfu’s visit, the two sides agreed to make new contributions to “maintaining world and regional security and stability, and serving the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.”