BBC News Top Stories-World China sends top envoy Wang Yi to Russia for security talks
September 18, 2023 4 min 750 words
这篇报道涉及到中国外交部长王毅访问俄罗斯进行安全会谈，这是一个备受关注的话题，尤其是在乌克兰战争背景下。这次访问发生在俄罗斯寻求继续得到中国支持的背景下，而中国被指责在这场战争中间接支持俄罗斯，尽管他们否认了这一指责。 最引人注目的是，这次访问被认为将为普京即将访问北京打下基础，这可能是一个重要的外交事件。普京自从国际刑事法院在2022年3月针对乌克兰战争的战争罪行发出逮捕令以来，没有出国旅行，因此这次访问具有特殊的意义。 在这篇报道中，我们看到了中国、俄罗斯和朝鲜之间的复杂外交互动。特别是，普京与朝鲜领导人金正恩的会晤引起了关注，被指是为了军火交易。这引发了对中国是否知情或默许这种三方支持的猜测，因为中国与这两个国家有着密切的关系。这种关系不仅仅限于意识形态，还包括它们对美国和西方的共同不信任。中国一直是朝鲜的经济支柱，通过贸易，近年来也开始成为俄罗斯的经济支持者，购买了大量俄罗斯的石油和天然气。 从中国被指责在乌克兰战争中向俄罗斯提供经济支持和关键技术的角度来看，这篇报道还提到了美国的立场。尽管中国一直坚称在乌克兰问题上保持客观立场，但美国情报报告声称中国采取了多种经济支持措施，以减轻西方制裁的影响，包括增加对俄罗斯能源出口的购买、在与俄罗斯的交易中增加人民币的使用，以及可能供应双重技术（既可用于民用又可用于军事用途的物品，如无人机）以用于乌克兰。 这篇报道揭示了一个复杂的外交格局，各方之间的联系和互动错综复杂。中国在这个局势中扮演着关键角色，其外交举措和立场将在未来的国际关系中起到重要作用。同时，普京即将的北京访问也将受到密切关注，因为这可能会对国际政治格局产生深远影响。
China's top diplomat Wang Yi is visiting Russia for security talks, as Moscow seeks continued support for its war on Ukraine.
A close ally of Moscow, Beijing is accused of supporting Russia indirectly during the war, which it denies.
His visit comes after Vladimir Putin's meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un that was thought to yield an arms deal.
Russian media said Mr Wang's trip would also lay the ground for Mr Putin to make a landmark visit to Beijing soon.
Earlier this month Mr Putin said he expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, but did not say when.
He has not travelled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March over war crimes in Ukraine. Mr Putin last ventured onto foreign soil in December 2022 when he visited Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.
China's foreign ministry said Mr Wang is in Russia for four days for "strategic security consultations".
Russian news agency Tass, citing the Kremlin, said he would meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and the Ukraine war would be a key topic of their talks.
They will also discuss "the expansion of Nato forces and infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region" and strengthening their coordination in international groupings such as the UN, it said.
Mr Wang's visit comes days after Mr Putin's highly controversial welcome of Mr Kim, which the US alleged was to discuss the selling of North Korean arms to Russia. Moscow is thought to be facing a shortage of weapons and ammunition.
Russia and North Korea said they talked about "military cooperation" and aid for Pyongyang's satellite programme.
When asked about Mr Kim's trip last week, China's foreign ministry declined to comment saying it was "something between their two countries".
But some analysts believe that any mutual North Korea-Russia support is happening with China's knowledge or even implicit consent, given Beijing's close ties with the other two countries.
Those relationships extend beyond socialist ideology and their shared distrust of the US and the West. Beijing has long been Pyongyang's economic lifeline through trade, and in the past year it has started becoming Moscow's as well through ramped-up purchases of Russian oil and gas.
"Whatever's happening with Russia and North Korea cannot be happening without China knowing about it... I don't think they would cooperate militarily without Beijing's approval," said Alexander Korolev, an expert on China-Russia relations with the University of New South Wales in Australia.
China could even see North Korea as a useful proxy to help Russia in the Ukraine war, he added.
"Simply by greenlighting North Korea to have military cooperation with Russia is a way to help Russia with very low reputational costs. It could blame North Korea's rogue regime [whose actions have] nothing to do with them. It would be a smart move, if this is the case." he said.
Mr Wang's visit to Russia also comes a day after he met US national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Malta. Besides the US-China relationship, the two men had also discussed regional security and the Ukraine war, according to statements put out by the US and China.
While the US may be talking to China to put pressure on North Korea to stop any cooperation, it may be unlikely China would do this, said Mr Korolev. "If China wanted to play ball the American way, they had more than a year" to stop the war but they have not, he said.
China has been accused by the US of aiding Russia economically and supplying key technology since the war began.
A US intelligence report released in July said Beijing is "pursuing a variety of economic support mechanisms for Russia that mitigate both the impact of Western sanctions and export controls".
It cited China's increased purchases of Russian energy exports, the increased use of its currency in transactions with Russia, and the "probable" supply of dual technology - items which could be used for both civilian and military purposes such as drones - for use in Ukraine.
China has consistently denied such allegations and insists it maintains an objective position on the war.
It has put out its own Ukraine peace plan, unveiled during a whirlwind of diplomacy undertaken by Mr Wang earlier this year when he last visited Moscow and met Mr Putin.
Additional reporting by Evgeny Pudovkin of BBC Monitoring.