Will China and India’s refusal to condemn Russia over Ukraine invasion harm their reputations in Asean?
- How Beijing and Delhi acknowledge the invasion of Ukraine could impact their standing in Asean, and their complex relations with Russia
- Meanwhile, Indonesia is reliant on Russia for maintenance of its defence equipment and has not described the war in Ukraine as an invasion
Media commentators and analysts say such “doublespeak” reflects Beijing’s increasingly complicated balancing act as fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russian troops intensifies.
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Russian forces capture Chernobyl, as death toll rises from Ukraine conflict
But for former senior Singaporean diplomat Bilahari Kausikan, Beijing is attempting to shift the narrative on Ukraine “from the fact of invasion, to the unreliability of Nato”.
“There is a second line if you like, that it’s all Ukraine’s fault, it’s all the [West’s] fault for encouraging Ukraine to do things that were not in Ukraine’s interests,” Kausikan said, noting that China is clearly in an awkward position.
“China has a lot of explaining to do, to itself, to its citizens, to countries around it, and I don’t think they have any good answers, not now and not in the future,” Kausikan said, adding that people are going to look at China with even more scepticism than before.
