ICYMI – China could easily push Russia’s war with Ukraine into a “true world war.” New York Times said it first and Newsweek believes them. They have good reason to. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Blinky Blinken on Saturday that “nuclear wars must not be fought.” Those, everyone agrees, are never a good thing. Xi wants us to simply back down now. Starting with Taiwan.
China pushing tension to brink
“China, first of all, they would like the war prolonged because it keeps us [United States] tied down,” explains the New York Times writer who started the conversation, Thomas Friedman. “And we’re burning through all our weaponry and all our military stock.”
He stopped in to the NBC studios to “Meet the Press.” They weren’t sure they wanted to be there. Confusion to the enemy balloon style is a page right out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War playbook, as well.
China, Friedman insists, would really “like a weak Russia that’s forced to be economically dependent on them.” What they don’t want is “a collapsed Russia.”
Thomas Friedman said on Sunday that China wants a "prolonged" war in Ukraine to keep the United States tied down. https://t.co/bi0IyGFLkN
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) February 19, 2023
That’s why they’re thinking about shipping Vlad some arms and ammunition. “That’s a very bad signal for Taiwan if the West could take Russia down. So, I think the Chinese might be concerned about that.”
Friedman was visibly agitated as he declared “you can’t exaggerate how important it would be if China did that.” This is huge. “This would be a true world war. It affects every global market and we’re in a completely new world.”
Antony Blinken called in to the show from Europe. He downplayed Wang Yi’s hysterics and tried to assure America that he warned Wang of “serious consequences” for “supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.”
China Foreign Minister, Wang Yi: "We will never accept US instructions or threats to put pressure on Russian-Chinese relations,"
This was a statement made from the Communist Party Politburo.
The US/EU attempt to isolate China from Russia doesn’t seem to be successful pic.twitter.com/9YnzwMvZ1k
— LogKa (@LogKa11) February 19, 2023
They want it both ways
China, Blinky insists, “is trying to have it both ways. Publicly they present themselves as a country striving for peace in Ukraine, but privately as I’ve said, we’ve seen already over these past months, the provision of non-lethal assistance that does go directly to aiding and abetting Russia’s war effort.”
While non-lethal aid is no big deal, our spooks are telling him a different story.
The Minister of State added he knows “some further information that we are sharing today, and that I think will be out there soon, that indicates that they are strongly considering providing lethal assistance to Russia. To the best of our knowledge, they haven’t crossed that line yet.”
A lot of focus on what Wang Yi said at #MSC2023 about invading Taiwan
He was asked to "reassure the audience that a military escalation over the Taiwan issue is not imminent"
Here's his response in full: pic.twitter.com/fxxidEnLHJ
— Richard Walker (@rbsw) February 19, 2023
Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling was there to weigh in also. He’s former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe.
“It is in the interest of China to see the U.S. continuing to support Ukraine. While the US and other western nations are supplying weapons, support and intelligence in Ukraine’s existential fight to regain control over their sovereign boundaries, China is able to further expand their strategic reach in many areas beyond their border while continuing to address their own domestic challenges.”
In other words, “China continues to see their competitors, both the U.S. and Russia, distracted while they work toward accomplishing their national objectives.“
