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To see a list of previous articles, enter “Ukraine” in the Search Box on the upper right, and you will see a list in chronological order.

To understand the broad context within which current developments in Ukraine should be considered,see

“Ukraine War, October 26, 2022: The context for analysis of current developments; The “dirty bomb” as a Russian propaganda distraction from current war crimes,” The Trenchant Observer, October 26, 2022.

Dispatches

1) Lingling Wei and Marcus Walker, “Xi Jinping Doubles Down on His Putin Bet. ‘I Have a Similar Personality to Yours.’; The Chinese leader has long admired Vladimir Putin. Now, he is strengthening ties between the two nations with increased trade and energy partnerships,” Wall Street Journal, December 14, 2022 (10:51 am ET);

Analysis

In an excellent article, marred only by a headline writer’s inclusion of a 2013 quote of Xi Jinping, Lingling Wei and Marcus Walker describe not only the evolution of ties between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jingpin, but also the latter’s personal history and longstanding admiration of Soviet culture and politics.

Wei and Walker report:

Mr. Xi’s pro-Russian leanings stem in part from his family and biography. In 1953, the year Mr. Xi was born, Mao Zedong launched a campaign to study the Soviet Union as a model for China’s political, economic and military systems.

Mr. Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, a party revolutionary who fought alongside Mao, went to the Soviet Union in the late 1950s to study its heavy industry.

The movement profoundly shaped Mr. Xi’s youth, leading to a deep-rooted admiration for Soviet values, history and culture, according to historians.

His “Russia complex,” as dubbed by some, was so deep that nearly three decades of a Soviet-China split over ideological and other differences didn’t shake it. Relations between Beijing and Moscow improved following the Soviet Union’s collapse and the establishment of the Russian state in 1991, with both seeing the U.S. as a competitor.

The authors connect the dots, recounting the development of closer ties between China and Russia, andvXi’s efforts to follow “the Putin model”:

A sign of Mr. Xi’s support for Russia came soon after Donald Trump became U.S. president in early 2017. Mr. Trump’s campaign promise to improve relations with Russia caused alarm in the gated leadership compound in Beijing.

A report sent up by Mr. Xi’s alma mater, the prestigious Tsinghua University, argued that Russia’s economy had no future, implying little gain for China in a closer relationship, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

“Nonsense,” Mr. Xi wrote in the margins of the report, the people say.

Xi’s personal history undoubtedly plays a role in his decisions relating to Russia and the U.S., but he has also shown that he is capable of giving priority to what he perceives as China’s national interests.

The Trenchant Observer

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