Beijing Wang Yi is currently traveling through South Asia, and his diplomatic tour is focused on the Ukraine question: the Chinese foreign minister wants to show that Beijing is by no means as alone in its stance on the Russian campaign as the West often suggests.
To start with, he attended the meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIZ) in Pakistan on Wednesday, and Wang wanted to travel on to New Delhi on Thursday.
It is the first visit by a senior Chinese official since the deadly clash between soldiers from both sides at the disputed Himalayan border in 2020.
As the West turns its attention to Ukraine, China is trying to expand its influence in South Asia. In the run-up to the trip, Wang and President Xi Jinping had held numerous talks with government officials in the region, one of the topics being the position in the Ukraine war. In the middle of the month, Xi phoned Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Cambodia’s ruler Hun Sen. On his trip to Islamabad, Wang spoke to representatives of the OIZ, which includes 56 Islamic countries. There he apparently also received support for China’s position on the Ukraine question.
The Chinese government describes itself as neutral, but in fact supports Moscow’s positions on most points: It rejects NATO’s eastward expansion, accuses the USA of stoking tensions, speaks of Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” and condemns Western sanctions as illegal.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
>>Join the discussion: On Friday, March 25, at 12 noon, we will be speaking live with experts and editors about China’s position on Russia, what effects this has on security policy and how this is affecting the international economy. Here you are live.
China feels less isolated on the world stage than many in the West suspect, says Ryan Hass, senior foreign policy fellow at US think tank Brookings. After all, many countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia were pursuing a policy of neutrality even weeks after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. One reason is that the region has long been at the center of geopolitical competition between China and the United States.
On February 4, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, the two heads of government publicly demonstrated their solidarity.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
The international association Asean, for example, has called for a ceasefire, but avoided describing Russia as an aggressor. Ten countries belong to ASEAN: Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Similar to China, the member states always emphasize the importance of peaceful conflict resolution, territorial integrity and sovereignty. The experts Felix Heiduk and Gudrun Wacker from the Foundation for Science and Politics assume that the countries will continue to be cautious about criticizing Russia.
There are many reasons for this: Vietnam’s historically close ties to Russia, for example, or Russia’s role as a supplier of armaments and energy to the region. In addition, it is also about the hope of weakening the increasing Chinese dominance in the region through closer relations with Russia, “even if the latter seems questionable in view of the close partnership between Moscow and Beijing,” write the authors. Berlin and Brussels should not give up on the region “despite or precisely because of their restraint and neutrality”.
The western allies recently courted India intensively. High-ranking government officials from the USA, Japan and Greece have arrived there over the past few days, accompanied by telephone diplomacy from London and Canberra. Among other things, India is said to have been offered the opportunity to work on critical technologies, and deliveries of oil and military equipment were also discussed in order to reduce India’s dependence on Russia.
“The Russia-China axis is not good for India,” US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was quoted as saying in an interview with The Indian Express. According to the newspaper, the USA tried to stylize its position in the Ukraine war as a debate about democracies and autocracies.
>>Read more about this: NATO sends clear warnings to Putin – “China should join the rest of the world”
So it is no wonder that China, the major competitor of the USA, is now also looking to close ranks with India. According to media reports, Foreign Minister Wang was due to arrive in New Delhi on Thursday. The visit was not officially confirmed by either side.
Like China, India abstained in the United Nations vote on a draft resolution calling on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. However, the relationship between the two nuclear powers has been strained for years. But China is obviously interested in reassessing previous animosities in the current geopolitical area of tension.
The two heads of state met in November 2021.
(Photo: imago images/ITAR-TASS)
Brookings expert Hass emphasizes that China’s courtship of allies in South Asia increases the “premium for Western unity” when it comes to confronting China with its attitude towards Russia and Ukraine. At the EU-China summit on April 1, it is therefore all the more important that the EU heads of state and government send a clear message.
It must agree with the demands that US President Joe Biden conveyed to China’s head of state Xi by telephone last Friday: no undermining of sanctions, no arms deliveries to Russia, meaningful humanitarian aid and efforts to end the conflict quickly.
Hass emphasized that the EU must make it clear that the current decisions of the People’s Republic will determine how relations with the West will develop in the future. Beijing’s quest to become a geoeconomic power requires a working relationship with the West. “Self-sufficiency and a deepening of relations with developing countries are important, but not substitutes.”
Dissonances in the run-up to Wang’s planned visit to India show that China’s wooing for partners in Asia is by no means a sure-fire success. China’s foreign minister spoke in Islamabad about the conflict between India and Pakistan in the contested border regions of Jammu and Kashmir.
The reaction from India followed immediately: “We reject the inappropriate reference to India made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his speech at the opening ceremony,” said a spokesman for the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Even the most recent reports of additional Chinese arms deliveries to arch-enemy Pakistan are unlikely to improve relations between China and India.
More on this: How Taiwan and South Korea battle China for chip talent