According to Schulte Nordholt, Xi’s visit to Putin was therefore nothing more than a middle finger to the West. Especially as it was still thought that Xi could play a mediating role in the conflict. “Also because war is not good for China from an economic point of view,” says Schulte Nordholt. “But other issues prevail, such as the national security of the Russian system.”
“War is not good for China economically”
Schulte Nordholt argues that the same type of system (one-party state, ed) is present in China, and that this is very important for the Chinese. Furthermore, it seemed that the personal relationship between Putin and Xi was good, even if it could be an act, according to the sinologist. “They have already met 40 times and several world leaders call Xi a close friend,” he continued. But he rarely says that. He does it with Putin’.
Authentic
And so there is an authentic situation, says Schulte Nordholt. In China, the narrative is still alive that one of the greatest disasters of the last century was the fall of the Soviet Union. “Putin said it, of course, and Xi regularly insists on this in his speeches to party officials.” Such a fall of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is seen there as an absolute doomsday scenario. The fact that Putin is fighting back and “no longer accepting” the Western rise of NATO and the threat to Russian security is something that pleases Xi very much and fits the CCP narrative.
Among them
But where presidents welcome each other warmly and are only too happy to talk about their deep friendship, Schulte Nordholt knows that the Chinese people have very little interest in Russians. “They think that Russians are just simple farmers,” the sinologist continues. «Not as developed as Western culture. So there is little love lost.’
The Chinese therefore believe that Russia is “a backward culture,” according to Schulte Nordholt. And this is also clearly visible. The Chinese population has a relatively Western way of life when it comes to (Western) style of clothing, hairstyles and use of automobiles. But even in the economic field, the Chinese do not have a high opinion of Russia. ‘There are few big companies in Russia, so China has little admiration for Russians. It’s really top-down because of the same system and shared fear of the West.’