China has voiced its support for Russia after a short-lived insurgency posed the main challenge to the 23-year rule of Vladimir Putin, a close partner of Chinese leader Xi Jinping in his push for a new world order and strategic direction against the US.
A day after Wagner mercenaries strayed from their march on Moscow, ending a brief and chaotic uprising by warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, Beijing issued its first commentary on what Putin had called an “armed uprising.”
“This is Russia’s internal affair,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said in a terse statement posted online late Sunday night.
“As a friendly neighbor of Russia and a comprehensive strategic coordination partner for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” it said.
Beijing’s carefully crafted public comment came shortly after the brief mutiny had subsided, as Prigozhin on Saturday agreed to withdraw his fighters under a deal with the Kremlin that would reportedly result in him going into exile in Belarus.
It also came after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko flew to Beijing on Sunday to meet with Chinese officials, where both sides reaffirmed their close partnership and political trust.
China’s Foreign Ministers Qin Gang and Rudenko exchanged their views on “Sino-Russian relations and international and regional issues of common interest,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a one-line statement on its website, which includes a photo of the couple walking by the page while smiling.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Rudenko also held “scheduled consultations” with China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.
“The Chinese side expressed its support for the efforts of the leadership of the Russian Federation to stabilize the situation in the country in connection with the events of June 24 and reiterated its interest in strengthening the unity and further prosperity of Russia,” it said Russian ministry said in a statement.
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According to the Chinese reading, Ma told Rudenko that under the leadership of Xi and Putin, mutual political trust and cooperation between China and Russia has grown steadily.
“Faced with the complex and grim international situation, it is necessary to follow the important consensus of the two leaders, communicate in a timely manner, ensure the stable and long-term relationship between the two countries, and safeguard the common interests of both sides.” Ma was quoted as saying.
Xi, China’s most authoritarian and powerful leader in decades, has developed a close personal relationship with Putin over a shared goal of challenging the US-led world order. The two autocratic leaders declared a borderless friendship in February 2022, just before Putin launched his war against Ukraine.
Despite its claims of neutrality, China refused to condemn the invasion and instead provided much-needed diplomatic and economic support to Russia, a position that has alarmed Western nations, particularly in Europe.
As the devastating war drags on, Beijing is attempting to portray itself as a peace broker to restore ties with Europe – but it has also further deepened ties with Moscow.
In March, during the Chinese leader’s first visit to Russia since the invasion, Xi and Putin made a broad reaffirmation of their consensus on a range of issues – and their shared distrust of the United States.
“Right now there are changes – the likes of which we haven’t seen in 100 years – and we are the ones driving these changes together,” Xi told Putin as they bid farewell at the Kremlin’s door.
Three months later, Xi’s driving force behind Xi’s vision saw his seizure of power seriously challenged by an extraordinary display of defiance, shattering the facade of total control the Russian leader had striven for.
Wen-Ti Sung, a political scientist at Australia National University’s Taiwan Studies program, said the Wagner uprising “contradicts the narrative of Putin as a strong leader who has the full support of his people and is here as China’s long-term global partner.” ” of your choice.”
“If Putin’s rule is unstable, then supporting him is bad business,” he said.
Putin’s weakened influence had not gone unnoticed by even the most aggressive and nationalist Chinese scholars and commentators.
“Although Russia’s nightmare temporarily ended yesterday, this incident will definitely damage the image of Russia and Putin,” Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, wrote on Sunday on Weibo, where the Wagner uprising made a top -Trend topic was the weekend.
Jin, a government adviser known for his fiercely anti-American rhetoric, described the rapid turn of events as “surreal.”
“It is very dangerous for a country to support and retain such a large non-state military group – this ‘lesion’ can erupt at any time,” he wrote.
Hu Xijin, the former editor of the nationalist Global Times, commented on Twitter on Saturday before Prigozhin called off his uprising, saying the “armed uprising has caused the political situation in Russia to pass the turning point.”
“Regardless of the outcome, Russia cannot go back to the country it was before the uprising,” he said in the tweet, which was later deleted.
CNN’s Nathan Hodge and Xiaofei Xu contributed coverage
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