Opinion | Ukraine invasion: China may be world’s best bet for brokering peace between Russia and the West
- The threat of nuclear force calls for greater attempts at negotiation and a willingness by the West to make concessions to provide Putin with a way out
- Beijing’s relations with Moscow, plus its core principles of non-interference and ‘no first use’ of nukes make it an ideal mediator
In global diplomatic circles, what is not uttered publicly can reveal more than that which is out in the open. Perhaps no one captured this with more spice and sauce than Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Périgord, the acknowledged French maestro of European diplomacy from the second half of the 18th century into the 19th. As he memorably proclaimed, “speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts”.
Speech concealment is thus hardly unknown in current diplomacy but for the Chinese diplomat, having to carry the burden of an alliance of some sort with Russia at a time of the latter’s gruesome humanitarian criminality in Ukraine must be hard on the nerves.
Keep in mind that the Moscow-Beijing relationship is not exactly blood brothers under the skin. Russia has not always been such a good neighbour. At a length of more than 4,000km (2,485 miles), the border between them is the world’s sixth longest – about the distance between Washington and Los Angeles.
