China has expressed its support for Russia after a brief uprising posed the most serious threat to Vladimir Putin’s 23-year rule.
Putin has been a close ally of Chinese leader Xi Jinping in his efforts to usher in a new global order and a strategic alliance against the United States.
The Wagner mercenary group’s brief mutiny caused reverberations outside of Russia, including in neighboring China, where Xi and Putin have developed a strong friendship over their shared mistrust of the West. This strategic alliance has grown stronger in recent years, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said that “there’s probably some scrambling around in Beijing to figure out what this means for Putin going forward, especially if it means a more fractured Russia or a Putin who is very much weakened”.
Late Sunday night, Beijing finally broke its silence, supporting Russia with a brief statement that dismissed the incident as “Russia’s internal affair”.
“As Russia’s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson in an online statement.
Beijing’s carefully crafted public statement was made after the brief and disorderly uprising had subsided, and warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin had agreed on Saturday to withdraw his fighters as part of a deal with the Kremlin that would reportedly see him go into exile in Belarus.
Additionally, it followed Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko’s Sunday meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing, where the two nations reaffirmed their strong alliance and mutual political trust.
Source-CNN
