In the wake of the aborted mutiny by Wagner PMC chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, China has voiced its support for the Russian Federation and Moscow’s efforts to stabilize the situation.
“As Russia’s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a Sunday statement.
Thomas W. Pauken II, a Beijing-based geopolitical consultant with expertise in crisis management, told Sputnik that China has “an understanding that for their very own survival, they need Russia to succeed.”
“China supports a strong and stable Russia for many important reasons, obviously, because Russia is north of China and Russia and China are both facing pressure from the Western powers in regards to sanctions, while the US and other European countries are increasing their pressure on China,” he explained.
“So because of this pressure, basically, China needs to rely more on its real partners, including Russia, because they can work together to strengthen both sides. If Russia and China split apart, that will not only create hardships for Russia, but will also create hardships for China.”
Pauken explained that a stable and successful Russia is important for China because without Russia on its side, the Western powers would be able to totally isolate China.
“Political stability in Russia is important to China for a key reason: China has become a major manufacturer in the world. It is a major exporter to the world. But currently, there are many Western powers who are trying to contain China and contain China's rise. Therefore, the Western powers are pushing and pressuring China to move against Russia. But China does not support this because they realize that if the Western powers are successful at knocking out Russia, then they will simply move on to China and attack China. So China does itself no favors by turning against Russia or by supporting instability in Russia. Obviously, they would want to see Russia succeed and for Putin to succeed, and for the mutiny that was led by Prigozhin to fail. It's very logical for them. And it makes common sense,” he said.
On Sunday, after the situation had been defused, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders and reaffirm their close partnership and political trust. Pauken said it was “very significant” and sent a message to the Western powers that the Prigozhin affair had not created any “friction or tensions” between the two states.
The official underscored that the recent meet between Chinese and Russian figures proved a "very important event because it shows their close relationships, and that they are not going to be driven or come apart over recent events, and the West is going to be unable to drive them apart."
“Instead, what's really going on is that China and Russia are drawing closer together and we will see their relations get even stronger in the months to come," he added.
From Rivals to Partners
That trust, he said, is a “very significant factor,” given the fraught history of relations between Moscow and Beijing.
“For a long time, the two countries were major rivals and they had trouble trusting each other. But in recent years, because the West has moved so strongly against Russia and the West has moved so strongly against China, that instead of driving a wedge between the two countries, it has actually caused them to come closer.”
“This is the tremendous irony of the West, because they think that what they are doing is right and correct, they continue on with their foolish path of trying to divide the two countries when in fact, all of their actions, such as sanctions and the containment policy, are doing nothing more but drawing the two countries closer together,” he said, adding that “they are forming a partnership that will remain very strong and vibrant for the foreseeable future.”
Pauken told Sputnik he forecasts that this trend of friendship will continue, because as the two nations continue to rise, the US and its allies will jealously guard their control over the globe.
“The West continues to think that they are the most powerful nations, especially the US, which thinks of itself as the superpower. And they fear the rise of China and they fear the strength of Russia. This is why they are so angry at the two countries, because the two countries are very independent, very sovereign, and will not bow down or surrender to the US, like what you see with the EU or the UK.
“The problem of the EU and the UK is that they no longer have real sovereign power or sovereign authority. They cannot go against Washington, and instead they must do the bidding of Washington, because their security guarantees that the EU and the UK receive come from NATO - and the major financier and financier of NATO - is Washington.”
“Now, we're seeing that there could be a possible expansion of NATO in Asia with the opening up of a NATO office in Tokyo, and South Korea and Japan were invited to the NATO summit that is being held in Lithuania this week. This could prove very problematic in world affairs because NATO is the tool to enforce Washington's power, as well as to enforce the EU's power. But it is also [a tool] to make the EU a puppet to the US. So Russia and China are fighting against not only NATO, but they are fighting against Western powers that are trying to control them. So their partnership will remain strong in order to fight back against the Western powers.”
Prigozhin’s Aborted Mutiny
On Friday, Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian Defense Ministry of allegedly striking the group's camps, after which Wagner troops seized the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov-on-Don. The Russian Defense Ministry denied the accusations, while Russia's Federal Security Service opened a criminal case against Prigozhin for organizing a since-aborted armed mutiny in the country.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Saturday evening that the criminal case against Prigozhin had been dropped, and that he would leave for Belarus under guarantees given by Putin. On Tuesday, Russia's Federal Security Service said the case of the aborted mutiny had been dismissed. Putin confirmed fighters of the Wagner PMC would be able to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense, return home, or go to Belarus.