The Ukraine war is raging, and Russian President Vladimir Putin shows no sign of slowing down. The whole world is now wondering what China’s next move will be.
Yale professor and former chief economist at Morgan Stanley, Stephen Roach, is at least clear on what he thinks is the right answer.
– The best that China can do right now is to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. I think there is only one person who has influence over Vladimir Putin, and that is (Chinese President) Xi Jinping. “China really holds the trump card, and I think it’s up to Xi to seize the moment,” he told CNBC.
No more «unlimited»?
While the United States, Britain and the European Union have been peppered with, China will not join Russia’s sanctions, and it has also refused to call the attack on Ukraine an invasion. China also abstained from voting on a UN resolution condemning the invasion.
CHINA BOARD: From former Morgan Stanley chief economist Stephen Roach. Photo: Bloomberg
Beijing has instead called for negotiations and called on the warring parties to calm down, thus distancing themselves from the “no boundaries” partnership announced after their meeting on the opening day of the Olympics.
“China should have threatened to pull the rug under Putin if he didn’t participate in the game,” Roach told CNBC.
He believed Beijing would make a mistake moving forward with Russia’s partnership in the war against the West, and that the country would then be branded an accomplice to the war for “a very long time.”
– He can’t go there – that would be a big mistake for Xi Jinping, Roach continued.
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