The official answer can be traced back to Covid but for many Xi Jinping wants to keep himself in balance in the Ukrainian affair
Are they truly limitless friends? The question becomes even more insistent, because a crime has broken out about an alleged invitation to go to Russia that has fallen on deaf ears. Something that usually shouldn’t happen between close friends. Everything seems to have started from an indiscretion published in Yomiuri, one of the main newspapers in Japan. According to the article (published yesterday), some diplomatic sources in Beijing said that Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, refused to go to Russia on an official visit. Vladimir Putin himself asked him to leave, evidently to better seal the friendship in times of crisis. On June 15, Putin called Xi Jinping to wish him his 69th birthday, then took the opportunity to invite his Chinese counterpart to Russia. But Xi – this is what diplomatic sources say – would have rejected the offer.
The yellow at this point is also about the real reason for the renunciation. The façade response seems to have been to allege security problems related to Covid – which in China is still fought today with draconian lockdowns, even in the presence of a few cases. And in fact, the Chinese leader hasn’t visited a foreign country since the end of January 2020, that is, since the Covid crisis erupted around the world. But the other reason, perhaps even more decisive, is that Xi Jinping wants to keep himself in balance in the Ukrainian affair; certainly, he has been careful not to condemn Russia, attributing the real responsibility of the war to the arrogance of the West, in particular of the United States and NATO; however, until now, he does not seem to have supported his friend Putin with material means, with the exception of the abundant purchases of oil (purchased at a steep discount).
So the Chinese leader’s refusal to go to Russia would be part of this strategy. Watchful waiting strategy, of one who knows that time is on his side. Xi Jinping is also aware that he has problems to solve at home: Covid, economic uncertainty, and securing internal support for the third consecutive term – when the Communist Party Congress is held in the second half of the year. And so it is better not to antagonize the United States and Europe too much, among other things, two much richer and more important economic partners than Russia. And what does Russia say? Deny everything, of course. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that his boss has not received any rejections. «There is a valid invitation for Putin to visit China and one for Xi Jinping to visit Russia. All these visits will take place when there will be a relaxation of the anti Covid restrictions ». And in the meantime the military campaign in Ukraine continues. Putin yesterday ordered his forces to push into Donetsk province, the other half of Donbass, where Ukrainians still control the cities of Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut.
However, it should be remembered that at least on one occasion the Chinese president left the mainland. Xi Jinping was in Hong Kong last Friday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the “return” of the former British colony to China. Accompanied by his wife, the first trip to the island since 2017.
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