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Look out for Russian moves to ‘muddy waters’ at China’s doorstep, noted analyst warns as Moscow boosts North Korea ties
- Note of caution from Fang Ning comes amid deeper Russia-North Korea interaction, and reports of imminent visit to Pyongyang by Vladimir Putin
- Kremlin’s aim would be to distract West and cause it to cut aid to Ukraine, taking pressure off Moscow, noted political analyst tells Beijing forum
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China should be on the alert this year for potential moves by Russia to stir up trouble at its doorstep, a prominent Chinese political analyst has warned, while urging Beijing to carefully manage its ties with Washington.
The note of caution from Fang Ning, former director of the political science institute at China’s leading state-backed think tank, comes as Russia and North Korea step up cooperation, with Pyongyang’s state media saying Russian President Vladimir Putin was expected to visit at an “early date”.
Nearly two years into its war in Ukraine, Russia was likely to try its best to “muddy the waters” beyond the battlefield and trigger more flashpoints, Fang told a forum at Renmin University in Beijing.
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He said the Kremlin’s aim in this would be to distract the West and cause it to cut aid to Ukraine, thus taking the pressure off Moscow.
Fang, a chair professor at Sichuan University, formerly headed the Institute of Political Science at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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