Hal Brands, Columnist

China Placed a Losing Bet on Vladimir Putin

The alliance between Beijing and Moscow is mostly about giving each other a free hand. That puts Xi Jinping in a bind.

March 10, 2022 at 2:23 PM EST

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Still in lockstep.
Photographer: Kenzaburo Fukuhara /Getty Images

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So far, there aren’t many winners in Russia’s brutal conflict in Ukraine. But among the biggest losers is China.

European Union officials have plaintively called on Beijing to broker a settlement between Kiev and Moscow. That’s probably wishful thinking. China isn’t neutral enough to serve as a trusted intermediary, and won’t force peace on Russian President Vladimir Putin against his wishes. For the time being, Beijing is stuck dealing with the blowback from Russia’s debacle.

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

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