Despite its claim of neutrality, Beijing has tacitly supported Moscow’s war from the start, from opposing retaliatory Western sanctions to banning criticism of Russia on Chinese social media.
Peking University professor Feng Yujun made a gloomy forecast regarding Kremlin head Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, suggesting that Russia’s attempts are doomed to failure. He expressed his opinion in an article in The Economist.
The expert presented four main factors that, in his opinion, “will make Russia’s final defeat inevitable.” “The level of resistance and national unity that Ukrainians have shown, which has so far been extraordinary,” is the first of these.
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Feng Yujun named international support for Kyiv as the next prerequisite. According to the academic, assistance “remains broad,” although he acknowledged that the administration of President Vladimir Zelensky considers it insufficient.
The third factor is “the nature of modern warfare.” According to Fang, who described it as a combination of “industrial power and command, control, communications and intelligence systems.” The Russian military machine is at a disadvantage here, the expert said, because the country has never fully recovered from the “dramatic deindustrialization” that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia’s fourth critical deficit is the lack of information among decision makers at the highest levels in the Kremlin. Trapped in an “information cocoon,” Putin and his national security advisers lack access to accurate intelligence, limiting their ability to correct mistakes.
Fang’s assessment is a departure from the Chinese government’s message. Despite its claim of neutrality, Beijing has tacitly supported Moscow’s war from the start, from opposing retaliatory Western sanctions to banning criticism of Russia on Chinese social media.
Fang also said that “astute observers” have noticed a shift in Beijing’s approach to Moscow from the “borderless partnership” proclaimed by Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping just before the invasion to China’s standard position of non-alignment.
“China’s relations with Russia are not stable and have been affected by the events of the past two years,” he wrote.
Let us remind you that the Wall Street Journal reported on April 16 that the Russian Federation provided Iran with Su-35 aircraft and S-400 air defense systems in exchange for martyrs and missiles. In addition to the thousands of drones purchased from Iran, late last year the Russian Federation agreed to purchase additional military goods worth about $2 billion.
