Advertisement
On Balance | How the US midterm elections factor into Russia’s war in Ukraine
- While Biden has united the West against Putin’s war on Ukraine, he has yet to show the US electorate he is taking the migration issue seriously
- Migration is one of the Democrats’ most urgent problems: it could give Republicans control of Congress and undermine American support for Ukraine
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
8
Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t count on China to support the escalation in his country’s war against Ukraine, which he is pressing ahead with in spite of, or because of, his military failures so far.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi walked a fine line on the war in his public addresses at the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly last week, refusing to indict the aggressor despite the evidence of the mass murder and torture unleashed on civilians coming to light in areas retaken by Ukrainian forces.
But Putin is obviously testing Beijing’s limits. It’s easy to focus on the two countries’ declaration of a “no limits” friendship in February, even as the Russian military massed along Ukraine’s border. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “concerns” over the war, acknowledged by Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, gives us a clearer read on Xi’s current thinking.
Advertisement
Who was Wang referring to when he proclaimed in his UN General Assembly address: “Turbulence and war can only open Pandora’s box, and he who instigates a proxy war can easily get himself burned”? Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that Putin was at least one of the parties he was referring to, if not the primary focus.
With New Delhi also clearly unhappy about the war, the majority of UN members on the side of Washington, London and Brussels in calling for an end to the conflict, and reports of Russian men fleeing conscription, it’s difficult to understand why Putin only is digging in further.
Advertisement
There is obviously much medieval darkness in Putin’s mind, but at least one of the answers lies many thousands of miles away from the carnage in Ukraine, where desperate Latin Americans fleeing poverty and violence are streaming over Mexico’s border with the US at record rates.
03:12
At least 51 migrants dead after being found inside sweltering truck trailer in Texas
At least 51 migrants dead after being found inside sweltering truck trailer in Texas
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x