'Disheartening losses for Russia': Surprising tones from China
Created: 2022-10-20 21:53
By: Tobias Utz
China and Russia are considered allies, including in the Ukraine war.
Surprisingly, military casualties are highlighted.
Beijing/Moscow – Russia's losses in the Ukraine war are increasing every day.
This is illustrated by statistics from the Ukrainian military and the British secret service.
Vladimir Putin keeps a low profile on this and only speaks about it occasionally.
So far, the Kremlin has only heard that there are losses – there is no statement on how high, as fr.de reports.
Ironically, there are currently critical comments from China, which always emphasizes to stand side by side with Russia.
On Sunday (October 16), the English-language news portal
China Daily
, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, ran an editorial picking up on the casualties.
Among other things, it spoke of “disheartening” losses by Russia in the Ukraine war.
Heavy losses for Russia: surprising criticism from China
The editorial, an opinion-oriented form of journalism, also stated that despite the appalling losses on the battlefield, Russia had only resorted to "partial mobilization" at home and continued to insist that these were "special military operations" and not a war” act.
Irrespective of this aspect, the editorial, in its usual stance, particularly criticized NATO's annual military maneuvers, in which, among other things, nuclear weapons are presented as a nuclear deterrent.
This contributes to a spiral of escalation.
Vladimir Putin (left) and Xi Jinping (right).
© Photos: Alexandr Demnyachnuk / AFP, Sputnik / AFP |
Collage: AFP |
Editing: IPPEN.MEDIA
However, the China Daily
article
is not the only one of its kind. A critical article also appeared in the
Global Times
, an English-language newspaper in China.
The war in Ukraine is getting "out of control," warned editor-in-chief Hu Xijin, who is no longer in office.
A further escalation of the situation is at least to be feared.
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The state's external representation of the Chinese-Russian relationship is as usual: cool and in line with Putin's narrative.
President Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized that China supports Russia.
Putin thanked for the "balanced position".
Regardless, the Chinese president warned of "difficult times" at the Communist Party convention on Sunday.
According to Xi, there are "immense risks and challenges" and "global changes such as have not been seen in a century" internationally.
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This appears new, especially after an appeal by the Chinese foreign minister at the end of September.
In a speech, Wang Yi called for peace talks in the Ukraine war - and did not rely on the Russian narrative.
"We call on all parties concerned to prevent the crisis from spreading and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries," Wang Yi said
in his address at the UN general debate in New York , according to the
AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, dissatisfaction is said to be growing within the Russian population.
There is talk of a “silent civil war”.
(do)