Chinese authorities reportedly requested in early February that Russia wait to launch its invasion of Ukraine until after the Beijing Olympics, according to a Western intelligence report described to the New York Times by senior Biden administration officials and a European official.
Western intelligence officials familiar with the report told the Times that it details conversations between senior Russians and Chinese officials in the run up to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. CNN subsequently confirmed the report’s authenticity, though different intelligence agencies reportedly had different interpretations of the exchanges between the Kremlin and Beijing.
The time of China’s request coincided loosely with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on the day of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, though it’s unclear whether the two leaders were directly involved in the exchange.
The two authoritarians “had an in-depth and thorough exchange of views on China-Russia relations and a series of major issues concerning international strategic security and stability,” according to a readout from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
At the time, Russia started building up its military presence near the border with Ukraine, raising alarm bells among western countries about an imminent incursion.
China had sympathized with Moscow’s claims that NATO was encroaching on Russia and threatening its national security interests and condemned its expansion, leading many western leaders to speculate about a growing China-Russia partnership.
The two nations “believe that certain States, military and political alliances and coalitions seek to obtain, directly or indirectly, unilateral military advantages to the detriment of the security of others,” according to an English-translated version of their joint statement after the Olympics.
Together, China and Russia “oppose further enlargement of NATO and call on the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon its ideologized cold war approaches, to respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries, the diversity of their civilizational, cultural and historical backgrounds, and to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards the peaceful development of other States,” the statement said.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington rejected the circulation of the recent report detailing China’s early knowledge of Moscow’s plans as a wrongful attempt to make China appear complicit in Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“The claims mentioned in the relevant reports are speculations without any basis, and are intended to blame-shift and smear China,” spokesman Liu Pengyu said.
Last week, China refused to characterize Russia’s attack on Ukraine as invasion, treating it instead as conflict in which there is not necessarily a clear aggressor or victim and calling for “all sides” to deescalate.
“China is closely monitoring the latest situation. We call on all sides to exercise restraint to prevent the situation from getting out of control,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at press conference on February 24th.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that Russia invaded a sovereign country, bombarding and killing more than hundred Ukrainians and potentially committing war crimes in the process, Chunying urged the West to be careful about assigning blame, attributing the bloodshed not to Putin’s belligerence but to “complicated” history.
“This is perhaps a difference between China and you Westerners. We won’t go rushing to a conclusion,” Chunying said. “Regarding the definition of an invasion, I think we should go back to how to view the current situation in Ukraine. The Ukrainian issue has other very complicated historical background that has continued to today.”
The report comes as Russia’s assault on Ukraine escalates and starts to make territorial gains, such as in the major port city of Kherson, which was confirmed to be captured by the Russians on Wednesday.