Japan Institute for National Fundamentals
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Speaking out

Yoshiko Sakurai

【#902】China’s Mediation in Ukraine War Is Inconceivable

Yoshiko Sakurai ／ 2022.03.24 (Thu)


March 23, 2022

　
Some analysts recommend China to mediate to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. But Chinese President Xi Jinping becoming an absolute dictator is essentially the same as Putin. Xi may be the most inappropriate mediator to stop Putin’s war of aggression.

China and Russia represent the opposite side of values that Western countries including Japan, the United States and Europe respect and try to defend. The Chinese Communist Party has artfully oppressed the values such as human freedom, individual basic rights and democracy under its one-party rule. Their desire is to fundamentally change international order established after World War II and to revise present international law.

Twin dictators: Xi and Putin

The international community has been shocked at Putin’s tyranny. Last July, however, Putin released an article asserting that Ukraine had been unreasonably taken from Russia. While Putin insisted that Russia’s role would be to restore Ukraine taken illegally through the Bolshevik Revolution, Western countries, confident of modern values in the 21st century, were optimistic that human kind would never go back into the past and paid little heed to his insistence.

Just as Putin has disclosed his intention, Xi has published his idea. In October 2017, Xi told the 19th CCP Congress that by 2049, marking the centennial of the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese nation would stand out over other nations in the world. He further said the world order by then will be based on CCP values.

Xi has reiterated the CCP’s long-lasting ambition to unify Taiwan into China. Describing the unification of Taiwan as the CCP’s historical mission, Xi in July 2019 threatened to use military forces for the unification if necessary. In 2013, he deleted the policy of no first use of nuclear weapons from the defense white paper. By discussing the strategic thinking of a “launch on warning,” China implied a preemptive nuclear attack. So did Russia.

Both Putin and Xi blame Japan and West European countries for having unjustly　looted their respective countries in the past. They both hope to encompass, swallow, and Russianize or Sinicize other nations under Great Russia or great Chinese nation.

Both have made clear their intentions. We should take their remarks more seriously than ever and take countermeasures now.

China is more cunning than Russia

China differentiates itself from Russia in terms of cunningness. China is far cleverer and more troublesome. As is the case with its crackdown on Uyghurs, China conducts a genocide in a space closed to the international oversight. In the same way, Beijing has cracked down on Tibetans, Mongolians and pro-democracy Han Chinese. Nothing is more dangerous than making China an international peace mediator. Instead, we should prepare for China’s threats.

Yoshiko Sakurai is President, Japan Institute for National Fundamentals.