Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia: how China is trying to put itself back at the center of international negotiations

“Being a mediator implies that there has been an aggression, that Russia has violated the UN Charter… That is not China’s position yet.”

For Beijing, the conflict in Ukraine is above all an opportunity “to show that China’s foreign policy is peaceful, and to display the image of a great country”, according to Zhao Tong, researcher at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Beijing, interviewed by RFI. Even if it means remaining “on questions of principle” and “few concrete proposals”, underlines the specialist. Accused at the end of February of wanting to supply arms to Russia, China defended itself. But Beijing is continuing its military exercises with Moscow, as the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on March 15 on Telegram (in Russian), about maritime maneuvers between Russia, Iran and China in the sea. Oman.

Efforts related to Beijing’s interests

On March 10, Chinese diplomacy played a nice trick by bringing Iran and Saudi Arabia back to the negotiating table, ending seven years of rupture. An announcement that surprised the international community, but which is not so surprising, according to Antoine Bondaz. “This role that China is trying to play is not new, he underlines. The first Chinese special envoy for the Middle East dates from 2002. And in 2017, Beijing hosted negotiations between Israel and Palestine. ” New, however, this mediation “resulted in a very media way on major announcements”, notes the specialist.

China’s diplomatic efforts in this region are never very far from its economic interests, nevertheless points out Antoine Bondaz. “China needs stability because it buys Iranian oil, which is subject to Western sanctions,” he said. Saudi Arabia is also an increasingly important customer for the Chinese arms industry, as reported by the South China Morning Post. Last November, Riyadh bought $4 billion worth of Chinese weapons and equipment, including drones and anti-ship missiles.

Closer to Beijing, the open crisis between Burma and Bangladesh, where more than a million Rohingyas who fled Burma are refugees, has drawn the attention of China. Negotiations under the aegis of the Chinese thus made it possible, at the end of October 2022, to pave the way for the repatriation of these persecuted populations in Burma, as reported by the specialized site Modern Diplomacy (in English). “In this case, China has a direct interest, because this crisis in a neighboring country risks spilling over into its territory”, explains Antoine Bondaz.