Who’s the biggest beneficiary of the Russia-Ukraine war? Well, it’s not Russia since the nation is now reeling under massive economic sanctions from the West. It’s not the US either, where the unprecedented inflation is wreaking havoc on American consumers. It’s definitely not Ukraine, which is about to lose its sovereignty to Russia altogether. The real winner of the Russia-Ukraine war is none other than China. This observation made by a top advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is hitting straight onto the point.
Ukraine’s top official declares China the winner
Ukraine presidential economic adviser Oleg Ustenko on Thursday said, “The only country who really benefits now from this armed conflict, war in Ukraine, is China.” He said China would benefit from increased energy supplies from Russia and that it will act as a connector between Russia and the rest of the world.
The top Ukrainian official also raised doubts about whether China can play any key role in the peace process. Oleg Ustenko seemed to be suggesting that the Russian war against Ukraine may hardly fulfil any Russian interest. He said, “Moscow would surely have difficulty advancing any international agenda in the next few years, so the only communicator for them will be China.”
Ukraine’s stance on China’s role starkly contradicts USA’s position. The US has viewed China as a reliable partner in the peace process ever since the war broke out in Ukraine. US secretary of state Antony Blinken has so far held several discussions with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, in which the US has pressed China to broker a peace deal between the two warring nations.
China reaping the benefits of the war
China has launched its brutal genocidal campaign against Tibetan Buddhists amid the Ukraine crisis. The international attention to Russia has provided Xi Jinping with more legroom to flout international rules and principles regarding the human rights situation in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
China is more than happy to see Russia invading Ukraine, and it’s already reaping the benefits of the war. Firstly, it is striving to tighten its claw over the isolated Russian economy. Bloomberg reported this week that China was considering buying stakes in faltering Russian companies. On the other hand, China is also extending an olive branch to the US given the widening sanctions on Moscow.
China has a ballooning economic crisis of its own, and it needs strong international partners to mitigate the effects of the same. So, in early March, China’s official pamphlet Global Times claimed in a report that 82.43 percent of people in the communist country believe that “fixing China-US ties is good for China.” China is basically laying the ground for the resumption of full-blown trade ties between America and China, only if in return the US helps stonewall Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden sleepwalking in China’s trap
China put up a bait that the US should not have fallen for! But sadly, the 79-year-old President is more of a simpleton to see through this Chinese agenda. Given Biden’s poor credentials against China, it can be safely assumed that he is all set to become Nixon 2.0.
Fifty years ago, President Richard Nixon undertook a flight to China. That marked the beginning of Sino-American bilateral and economic ties. That visit made China the economic power that it is today. And today, when the Chinese economy is reeling under a massive economic crisis, Joe Biden may very well bail out the Chinese economy just to bring his anti-Russia campaign to fruition.
Let’s accept the fact that the Russia-Ukraine crisis has brought the US and China closer. China is refraining from criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; however, President Xi Jinping this week delivered his strongest ever statement on the war where he vehemently supported Ukraine’s sovereignty.
So, this ongoing flirting between the US and China is not appealing to Ukraine. Ukraine understands China is no friend to the US, Russia or Ukraine itself. But sadly, the US, blinded by its brazen campaign of demonizing Russia, is sleepwalking into the trap, laid by China.