[Epoch Times, September 12, 2022](Comprehensive report by The Epoch Times reporter Zhang Ting) Xi Jinping is about to leave China for a visit to Central Asia. He will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Xi Jinping will be in the spotlight at a time when Russia has been losing ground in the recent war in Ukraine. Experts believe that Xi Jinping is very concerned about the direction of Putin’s war because he fears losing an anti-Western partner on the international stage.
Xi Jinping is also expected to pay a state visit to Kazakhstan on September 14. Beijing has yet to confirm the trips, but Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry announced on September 5 that Xi will visit the country.
Kazakhstan and the Kremlin also said Xi would then meet Putin at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan’s ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand.
The summit will be held on September 15-16. Russia’s ambassador to China Andrey Denisov and Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said separately last week that Putin was expected to meet Xi at the summit. Ushakov said the summit with Xi would be “very important,” but gave no further details.
Expert: Xi Jinping is most anxious about Putin’s war direction
Russia suffered its worst setback in more than six months of war and was forced to abandon its main fortress in northeastern Ukraine in the past week as Ukraine launched a fierce counteroffensive using weapons aided by the United States and Europe.
Any interaction between Xi and Putin will be closely watched by the West at a time when the West has slapped sanctions on Moscow over the Russian invasion.
Reuters quoted George Magnus, author of the book Red Flags, as saying: “I can imagine that Xi Jinping is privately the most anxious about how Putin’s war is going, in fact[worrying about]) Will Putin or Russia still play a role sometime in the near future, as China still needs an anti-Western leadership in Moscow.” The book explains why Xi Jinping’s China is in crisis.
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi said, “Russia’s retreat will be very worrying for the CCP. Russia is one of the few anti-Western countries in the world and has the same political interests as the CCP. Although the CCP is worried about Russia In the defeat of the Russian-Ukrainian war, as long as Putin does not step down, the CCP will not be too nervous. If Putin has a crisis of stepping down, then maybe the CCP will take action.”
There has been a series of interactions between China and Russia recently. China and Russia conducted the “Oriental-2022” joint military exercise; on September 7, Li Zhanshu, the No. 3 figure of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, participated in Vladivostok (also known as Vladivostok), Russia. Eastern Economic Forum and delivered a speech. He is the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit Russia since Russia invaded Ukraine.
It can also be seen from Li Zhanshu’s speech that the CCP is worried that Russia will not be able to withstand Western sanctions by launching a war, and it will lose a partner who supports each other in its core interests.
Li Zhanshu said that the Chinese side is pleased to see that under the leadership of President Putin, the Russian economy has not been crushed by the harsh sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western countries. “China still sees Russia as an important country for international investment and cooperation,” he said.
In order to support Russia’s CCP’s feud with Ukraine?
A Ukrainian government-backed trade fair abruptly canceled a Ukrainian-hosted event promoting Ukrainian investment opportunities, a Ukrainian diplomat said. The move could raise concerns that Beijing has tacitly supported Moscow in the conflict.
The diplomat said the forum had been scheduled for Sept. 5 at the China International Fair for Trade in Services, but was abruptly told to cancel it. The Ukrainian embassy was unhappy with the move because it deprived Ukraine of opportunities to market investments to Chinese companies. He declined to elaborate on the reasons behind the move, saying only that it was a bad sign.
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi said that the CCP said it was neutral in the war with Russia, but judging from actions such as canceling the Ukrainian-sponsored activities to promote investment opportunities in Ukraine, there is no doubt that the authorities favor Russia. Now Ukraine has also discovered that the CCP will not change its position, so there were reports two days ago that Ukraine is preparing to gradually turn to “pro” Taiwan.
“The CCP will be more annoyed, but it will still weigh the pros and cons. It is estimated that the pro-Russian stance will not change in the near future.” Li Linyi said.
Russia loses one after another in war on the eve of the General Conference
Over the past five days, the Ukrainian army has carried out the most intense ground counterattack since the Russian army launched a full-scale invasion in late February. Video and satellite imagery located by CNN showed Ukrainian progress including continued attacks on command posts, ammunition depots and fuel reserves behind the Russian front line.
Ukrainian military officials say Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than a thousand square miles in the Kharkiv region in recent days. When the Russians fled in some places, they left behind weapons and ammunition.
The Ukrainian military said it was retaking villages in the Kupyansk and surrounding areas of Izyum in the Kharkiv region. With the advance of the Ukrainian army, the Russian army fled from these two important cities.
These two cities played a key role in the Russian army’s goal of capturing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Based in Izyum, the Russian army launched attacks on other towns in the Donbas region. Kupyansk is the main railway city that provides supplies to the Russian army. The Kupyansk railway and road hub in the western half of the city is the last artery connecting Russia with thousands of Russian soldiers in the occupied territories. These territories represent most of the Russian military’s gains in May and June.
The Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged on Saturday (September 10) that Russian troops were withdrawing from Kupyansk and Izum, but declared the move as a redeployment of troops to the east of Uzbekistan to achieve the stated goal of completely capturing Donbas. a part of.
The Russian Defense Ministry made no mention of the withdrawal in its regular television briefing on Sunday, but showed a map showing that Russian forces have withdrawn from most of the territory they recently controlled in the Kharkiv region.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#