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A tussle over a new gas pipeline deal exposed the power imbalance between Xi and Putin.
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Putin depends on the pipeline amid international sanctions.
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But China has also staked a lot on Russia’s victory in Ukraine.
At the Shangri-La conference in Singapore on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused China of following Russia’s orders in its attempt to disrupt a peace conference scheduled for June.
‘Unfortunately, it is a shame that such a large, independent, powerful country as China has an instrument in its hands [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Zelensky said of China, whose economy is much larger than Russia’s.
Zelensky’s comments highlight the increasing interdependence between China and Russia in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
But the relationship is lopsided. Rather than simply doing what Putin wants, Russia has so far been largely in the hands of Xi Jinping.
In the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has become increasingly isolated on the world stage, and China has stepped in, providing crucial economic, diplomatic and (according to the US) military support in the form of dual-use components for the Russian military . industry.
A report from the Financial Times on Monday provided important new details about the underlying power dynamics of the relationship, claiming that the reason a huge deal for a new gas pipeline between Russia and China has stalled is because China wants to make a tough deal.
Sources told the FT that China would only commit to the deal if it got the gas at the same heavily subsidized rates it sells for in Russia and accepted a small share of the pipeline’s 50 billion cubic meters of annual production .
It is bad news for Russian President Putin, as the Russian gas industry has been hit hard by sanctions and is becoming increasingly dependent on exports to non-Western countries, especially China.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has taken advantage of the power imbalance in the relationship between China and Russia. He has gained influence in the Central Asian republics, which were traditionally part of Russia’s sphere of influence, and has found in Russia a huge new market for Chinese exports such as cars.
But Xi is also increasingly dependent on the successful outcome of his bet on a Russian victory in Ukraine.
And he is still keen to help the Russian leader, with the FT reporting that boycotting the peace conference was one of the requests Putin made to Xi when the leaders met in May.
China is in the throes of a severe economic downturn and its support for Russia is endangering ties with the wealthy Western economies on which its key businesses depend.
If Xi emerges from the war in Ukraine with nothing to show for it, his credibility and attempt to assert China as the world’s leading power will be seriously damaged.
And that’s probably enough to ensure that China will continue to do favors for Russia.
Read the original article on Business Insider
