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In response to
"A blast damages an administration building in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, killing one man."
by
crash davis
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Xi Jinping avoids mentioning Ukraine or nuclear fears in a major address.
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President Biden and other American officials have said the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest since the Cuban Missile Crisis. Russian officials have warned of “Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0,” blaming the West for the escalation.
Nuclear fears and the war in Ukraine formed a big part of the geopolitical backdrop to China’s Communist Party Congress, which opened on Sunday, 60 years to the day since the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
But in a momentous speech to begin the once-every-five-years gathering, Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, skipped the opportunity to note the dangers of nuclear war or the anniversary of the missile crisis. He made no mention of the war in Ukraine or the need for a negotiated settlement, which China has suggested in vague terms.
Nuclear fears have risen since last month, when Russia’s leader, President Vladimir V. Putin, said he would use “all available means” to defend Russian territory, invoking the specter of Moscow’s huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. Under Mr. Xi, China has created an “alliance of autocracies” with Russia, with he and Mr. Putin declaring a “no limits” friendship just before Russia invaded Ukraine. The two men have spoken of their fondness for each other.
If the nuclear threats intensify, it is unclear how Beijing would respond. China has called for a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine, and made suggestions about the need for talks, but without conviction. And it has been a crucial trading partner for Russia since the war began but appears, so far, to have refrained from sending weapons.
As a major geopolitical pivot player, challenging the United States economically and militarily, China is in a much different place than it was in during the nuclear crisis of the 1960s.
Back then, China was an impoverished, isolated country, ruled by Mao Zedong whose revolutionary zeal appealed to leaders in countries emerging from colonial rule. Mao had fallen out with the leader of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, over ideology in the late 1950s.
The Cuban Missile Crisis made the split between the world’s two big Communist powers even worse. In Mao’s eyes, the Soviet leader caved to the Americans by agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba in exchange for the secret withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey.
On Sunday, during his nearly two-hour speech, Mr. Xi made no mention, even indirectly, of the war in Ukraine or his friendship with Mr. Putin.
— Jane Perlez
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