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Oct 24, 2023

Russia Has Become China's 'Junior Partner,' Says Britain's Former PM

China is facilitating the Russian invasion of Ukraine regardless of Beijing's

China is facilitating the Russian invasion of Ukraine regardless of Beijing's efforts to play peacemaker, according to former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who told Newsweek Western nations must not hand President Xi Jinping undue influence in shaping the conflict's endgame.

The war on Ukraine is deepening alignment between Moscow and Beijing, which some observers claim is setting the stage for a full "Dragon-Bear" alliance—even though there are still many areas of Russian-Chinese divergence.

"I think it's very real," Truss told Newsweek of the proto alliance on the sidelines of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in the Danish capital on Monday. "I think it was President Xi Jinping who described it as 'a friendship without limits.' And it's increasingly clear that Russia is now the junior partner of China. And China is, in my view, the major threat that the world is facing."

Russia has few committed supporters of its disastrous full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which itself is only the latest phase of an armed conflict that began with Moscow's seizure of Crimea and parts of the Donbas in 2014.

China has presented itself as a neutral party and potential mediator, but Bejing's rhetoric has been sympathetic to Russia's motivations. Beijing's long refusal to speak with Kyiv while maintaining close contact with the Kremlin underlined what some have described as "pro-Russian neutrality."

Amid Russia's economic isolation by the West, China has been expanding its Russian energy imports and the export to Russia of dual-use technology—vital to Moscow's military machine—now unavailable to Russia from Western sources.

Beijing is thought to have so far refrained from large-scale military support of Russia, though reports indicate multiple closed-door military meetings during and after Xi's recent visit to Moscow.

"I believe that they are very much helping Russia deal with the sanctions they face," Truss told Newsweek. "And it was no coincidence that the war in Ukraine was perpetrated immediately after the Winter Olympics ended."

"They're very much part and parcel of the same issue which we're facing," Truss added, referring to the broader struggle of liberal democracies against creeping authoritarianism. "You can't separate those two threats."

"If Putin were to be successful in Ukraine, which I don't think he will be, that would give succor to Xi's efforts in Taiwan. And again, if China is successful in their ambitions, then that would help Russia. These things are inseparable."

Truss said she is "very skeptical" that China is hedging its bets on Ukraine by declining Russian requests for significant military aid.

"I'm also skeptical that China—who, after all, we've seen what happened in Hong Kong, we see the way that the 1984 agreement was effectively ripped up, and freedom and democracy in Hong Kong has been completely undermined by China—are the party that can help restore freedom and democracy in Ukraine."

"We need to be very careful," Truss said. "Of course, ultimately, the decision about what to do should be the decision of Ukrainian President [Volodymyr] Zelensky. It's ultimately a decision for the Ukrainian people. But we have to be very careful that we don't end up giving China leverage over European security, or indeed, leverage over Taiwan."

The U.K. has long been a favored destination for dirty Russian money, and a playground for the families of top Kremlin figures. The capital earned the nickname "Londongrad" thanks to its enthusiasm for a share in the ill-gotten fortunes of the Russian oligarch class that emerged from post-Soviet regional destitution.

Russian influence has reached the very top of the British business and political establishments. The Conservative Party in particular has been accused of accepting large donations by Kremlin-linked figures. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for example, has been maligned for his own contacts with influential Russians and his alleged suppression of a landmark report into Russian meddling in British politics.

Russia's war on Ukraine has prompted somewhat of a reckoning. London has frozen some $60 billion in Russian assets since the full-scale invasion began on February 24, 2022, though critics say there is still much more to be done.

Truss acknowledged that successive British governments failed to address the problem. "My critique of what we as the West have done wrong, is that for too many years we essentially enabled what Putin was doing and provided the funding—whether it's by buying gas or other means—for him to perpetrate these appalling activities, whether it's in Ukraine or elsewhere," she said.

"That's what I think we need to be careful about, that whatever happens in the future in Russia, we should never be enabling that type of regime again." This includes, Truss said, confiscating frozen Russian assets—of the state and of oligarchs—and using the resources to help Ukraine.

London, Truss added, should not make the same mistakes with China, which over the past decade has taken ownership of some $180 billion in British assets, including nuclear power stations.

"What I'd like us to do is learn the lessons from what we didn't do on Russia early enough, on China," Truss said. "Because there's still, I'm afraid, the enabling of what's happening in China in a way that we've now stopped on Russia."

Truss, as both foreign minister and for 44 days as prime minister, adopted a tough China posture. Her successor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, took an apparent swipe at his predecessor shortly after taking office when he said his government would be "standing up to our competitors, not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism."

In the U.K.'s updated defense strategy unveiled in March, Sunak described China as an "epoch-defining challenge" but stopped short of labeling Beijing a "threat."

Asked if she was worried about Sunak's approach, Truss replied: "I am concerned that we need to make sure we are as strong as possible in reducing our dependence on China. That's critical."

"There's always pressure—and this is not just in the U.K. but right the west, this is happening in Europe and in the U.S. as well—from businesses who are doing business in China, organizations that are seeking Chinese investment into the U.K. or other countries. And I think we need to resist that pressure."

From secret "police stations" to political infiltration, Truss said British and allied authorities should be alert. "I think there are all kinds of means by which influence has been spread," she said.

"These constant disinformation campaigns, the use of inadvertent research, for example, the activities of the Confucius Institutes; I think there are all kinds of issues that we need to address."

Newsweek has contacted the Chinese and Russian foreign ministries by email to request comment.