It is said that Russia and China have switched roles over the years. Now that Russian President Vladimir Putin is having trouble winning in Ukraine, a place he thought would be easy to win, he thought it would be easy to win. One author at The Daily Mail says that Chinese President Xi Jinping is taking advantage of this weakness.
The two leaders met in March, just a few days after an arrest warrant for Putin was issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. Even though Xi is said to have gotten Putin to agree to trade deals that won’t help Russia much but will help China, Xi didn’t promise any weapons for the war in Ukraine.
Instead, a symbolic gesture was made when they both signed a joint statement recognizing the “legitimate security concerns of all countries.” The vagueness of that statement has led many to speculate what it could mean for the future of Taiwan and other disputed territories in Ukraine.
Even though Russia might be willing to talk about peace, Putin wants Crimea to be recognized as Russian territory and Ukraine to promise not to join the European Union or NATO.
According to reports, the meeting between China and Russia is a jab at the Western countries that have come together to help Ukraine with hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and military equipment, which Russia sees as a declaration of war. Putin is sending nuclear weapons to Belarus as a response. He says this is similar to what the US does all over the world.
In December, the U.S. Congress passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill that included an extra $45 billion in aid for Ukraine. This amount is in addition to the $195 billion that the U.S. has already sent to Ukraine.
