China should reconsider Russia ties, ‘make friends with more countries’, scholar says

Moscow is taking advantage of and ‘pursuing unilateral use of China’, US affairs expert says during forum hosted by Renmin University

China does not recognise annexation of Ukrainian territories, but war and Western-led sanctions have not stopped Sino-Russian ties from growing closer

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put the “no limits” friendship between Beijing and Moscow under the microscope. Photo: AP

Published: 10:00am, 14 Jun 2023Updated: 10:40am, 14 Jun 2023

China should reflect on its relationship with Russia when dealing with containment by the US-led Western countries, a Chinese expert said as Beijing comes under pressure for its perceived support of Moscow in the Ukraine war.

The academic made the comments during a virtual forum hosted by Renmin University of China’s National Academy of Development and Strategy on Friday.

Liu Weidong, a research fellow at the institute of American studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), argued that Moscow had tried to “take advantage” of Beijing, both before and after the start of the war in Ukraine.

“It is pursuing unilateral use of China, and it does not want to be used by China,” he said.

“What we seek is win-win cooperation under the premise of non-alignment,” Liu said, adding he wondered whether this win-win cooperation could be achieved.

He said the Biden administration was trying to link the two countries together on various issues to induce an alliance between Beijing and Moscow. If such an alliance were to be established, it would ultimately result in “mutual exhaustion rather than cooperation”, Liu said.