Appealing for China's Influence on Russia to Halt Ukrainian Hostilities

"I told President Xi that it is important for China to use its influence on Russia."

"Russia must immediately stop the attacks under which the civilian population is suffering daily and withdraw from Ukraine."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

"[The international community should] create conditions for the resumption of negotiations [and] jointly oppose the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons."

"[It is important for China and Germany] to work together in times of change and instability and contribute more to global peace and development."

"Efforts should be made to energize cooperation in emerging fields such as new energy, artificial intelligence and digitalization.” 

Chinese President Xi Jinping

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing

France's repeated attempts at diplomacy that saw Emmanuel Macron visit Moscow on a number of occasions early in the 'special military invasion' hoping to persuade President Vladimir Putin to withdraw Russian troops from Ukraine only served to convince Mr. Putin that the West was out to destroy him. U.S. President Biden's recommendation that "Putin must go" must surely have hammered the nails into the coffin of diplomatic persuasion. At least in appealing directly to Mr. Putin's sensibilities that violent conflict is an uncivil way for neighbours to discuss territorial disputes.

Understandably, Ukraine feels possessive about its geography. Vast as it is, the second largest in Europe, Russia's is even greater, taking up the largest swath of geography in the entire world. Ukraine is resistant to surrendering its territory at Moscow's demand and has made a good accounting for itself through the resilience and determination of its fighting men, countering the Russian invasion. The price Ukraine has paid is steep in infrastructure destruction, and above all, military and civilian deaths.

 

This is an issue of great concern to Ukraine, but the number of Russian servicemen who have died along with an astonishing number of commanding officers has failed to dissuade Vladimir Putin of the futility of war, its steep costs in human life and civil infrastructure, with a worldwide reach in the soaring cost and lack of availability of food grains, oils and fertilizers for the rest of the world. Much less Moscow's response to Western sanctions by depriving Europe of gas for industrial operations and home heating.

 

Russia has its allies; other countries for whom the Western democratic idea of rule of law and international agreements have little meaning. China, needless to say is among them, but far more to the point, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China is guaranteed to always vote alongside Russia in opposition to the votes of Britain, the U.S. and France.  

It is a sign of desperation that the German Chancellor has gone to Beijing to plead with China's president. If there are any concerns over nuclear weapon use, Mr. Xi knows full well they emanate from the recklessness of his Russian counterpart's efforts to instill fear into his opponents by his threats. His misdirected message to Chancellor Scholz deliberately fobs off the notion that China will switch allegiances.

President Putin's constant referencing of the West's plans to destroy Russia and certainly to orchestrate a scenario where he is removed from power is reflected in President Xi's assertions that the West has forced Russia to act in Ukraine, through NATO's malign influence on Russia's near-abroad, the former satellite countries of the USSR who shudder at the prospect that they too may at some point experience a 'special military operation'.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the belief that Ukraine is historically a part of the Russian Federation and should return to its berth there, however reluctantly to avoid the complete destruction of the country in the Kremlin's scorched-Earth strategy born of its increasing losses also points a finger directly at Beijing's long-range plans for reunification with Taiwan, where the independent sovereign island-state will either agree to be governed by the mainland, or suffer a fate similar to Ukraine's to achieve the same purpose.

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, speaks after he reviewed the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy fleet in the South China Sea. . Li Gang/Xinhua/AP

 

This appeal to Beijing at a time when relations between the second-largest economy in the world and the democratic Western states opposed to Taiwan's potential fate, and where concern over Beijing's plans of coercive command authority in the South and East China Seas have become a large, worrisome concern for the territorial claims; land, sea and air impacting Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea placing Beijing at odds with the West. 

 

Not to mention China's efforts to control technology through its stranglehold on rare earth products and lithium needed in quantity for electric vehicle batteries, placing the West and China on an irreversible collision course. Added to which is its well-known penchant for piracy of other nations' top secret research projects to gain a larger foothold on emerging technologies to benefit China's own state-owned entities.

 

Persuading Beijing to diplomatically pressure Moscow over Ukraine has as much chance for success as persuading Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba to join NATO for one big happy reunion at the United Nations as an object lesson in the power of diplomacy proving that all the world's nations can get along famously together, because they have so, so much in common and no reason for disputes about anything, much less territorial integrity.

 

Ukrainian soldiers fire a round from a former Russian tank, in Bakhmut. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters