At the end of this year’s session of the People’s Congress in Beijing on Friday, China called for “extreme restraint” in Russia’s war in Ukraine in order to prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe. However, Chinese leader Li Keqiang continued to avoid criticizing Russia for the invasion at a press conference.
The Chinese prime minister also spoke out once morest international sanctions once morest Russia. “The sanctions in question are harming the world’s economic recovery,” Li said. “Nobody has an interest in it.”
Ukraine war depresses China’s economic expectations
The annual session of China’s parliament ended with a sharp increase in military spending and a lower but ambitious growth target for the second largest economy. As expected, the almost 3,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People approved the government’s economic course. In the economic uncertainties, also due to the Ukraine war, the prime minister is predicting growth of 5.5 percent this year.
Because of the poor global economy, disrupted supply chains and problems such as the real estate crisis and over-indebtedness, it is the lowest target in three decades. However, it is considered ambitious and exceeds the expectations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which only assumes 4.8 percent for China. In 2021, China’s economy had grown by 8.1 percent, which was also due to the low basis for comparison due to the pandemic in the previous year. By the end of the year, growth had slowed down significantly. The prime minister announced that he would help the economy by reducing taxes and duties.
“legitimate security interests of all countries”
The People’s Congress session was overshadowed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Hopes that China would use its influence over its “strategic partner” Russia to secure a ceasefire or a solution have been dashed. Premier Li also said only that China wants to “play an active role together with the international community.” He called the situation in Ukraine “really worrying”. “The urgent task now is to prevent tensions from escalating or even getting out of control.”
Referring to Ukraine, while emphasizing on the one hand that sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected, the prime minister apparently stressed with regard to Russia that the “legitimate security interests of all countries” must be taken into account. It is now important to support Russia and Ukraine in their negotiations.
Expert: China is not neutral
Diplomats and experts stressed that China is not really willing to mediate. “No, not for a second,” said China expert Jude Blanchette of the Center of Strategic Studies (CSIS). “China is not neutral. China’s support for Moscow is tacitly bordering on too clear.” On the fringes of the conference, Chinese officials apparently also made it clear that China prefers to stay out of the conflict, as has been described.
State Department blames the United States as the culprit
While Li was deliberately cautious, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry has been stepping up attacks on the United States, which is portrayed as the cause of the conflict. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman also repeated Russian allegations regarding bioweapons allegedly being manufactured by the United States in Ukraine, which international fact-checkers and the UN have long since refuted. China’s state media deliberately spread the Russian narrative or often adopt targeted disinformation, experts say.
Russia’s confrontation with the US is portrayed in a manner similar to China’s own conflict with the superpower. However, a systemic superiority was also emphasized at the conference: “The West is in decline while the East is rising.” In an essay, China’s ex-ambassador to Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Zhou Li, said: “No matter how hard the Imposing sanctions on us or suppressing China will not prevent us from ‘moving up’ while they are ‘moving down’.”
Why Putin must not fail for Xi
Head of state and party leader Xi Jinping also contrasted “the orderly government of China” with the “chaos of the West”. Xi, who deeply regretted the collapse of the Soviet Union, does not want to dump his “friend” Putin. “He supports Putin because both want to challenge US global dominance,” Steve Tsang of the China Institute of the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) told the Telegraph.
“If Xi Jinping allowed Putin to fail and lose power, wouldn’t that give ideas to his enemies in China or in the Communist Party?” Tsang wrote. Even a humiliation of Putin by the US and the West would undermine Xi’s own standing, Tsang believes. It would also end his ambitions to conquer Taiwan.
concern regarding Taiwan
China’s determination to “reunify” with democratic Taiwan was also reaffirmed at the annual meeting. Against the background of tensions over Taiwan and with the United States and China’s territorial disputes with its neighbors in the South and East China Seas, the People’s Congress also voted for a sharp increase in defense spending by 7.1 percent. It is the highest increase in three years. Total spending, on the other hand, is only expected to grow by 3.9 percent.
Beijing sees free Taiwan only as part of the People’s Republic and is threatening military conquest. The Russian invasion has raised concerns that China in Taiwan may be following Russia’s example in Ukraine. Several senior former US officials visited Taiwan last week to send a signal of US support in the face of the Ukraine crisis.
