China’s guarded reaction shows Xi & CCP has learnt from fall of Soviet Union. China is still biding its time to challenge might of USA. Russia is now totally dependent on China & India two big markets it will have as Europe sanctions it big with USA.
So its really not that bad for India. But again Putin i guess overplayed it this time. Just nibbling off two Pro Russian provinces with rebels would have sufficed. Extended campaign in Ukraine is only increasing Russia’s isolation & makes no rationale sense.
Thats the difference between Xi/CCP & Putin. CCP is playing a long game having learnt the lessons from fall of Soviet Union thats they are today where they are unlike Russia harbouring Empire dreams with just 2 Trillion $ economy and now heavily isolated in its natural markets.
CCP has a plan in action Made in China 2025 & China Dream 2049 and they are stealthily building up for it unlike Putin who think every crisis is nail that can be fixed by military hammer. Anyways lets see how this unfolds.
Putin dream of Soviet Russia can anway not be realised given Romania, Poland, Baltics are all part of NATO with active & robust US fortifications. Ukraine was a buffer which he could nibble through as NATO is anyway not obliged to defend Ukraine. Revisionism wont work.
“Hide your strength, bide your time” - was the guiding philosophy of Deng Xiaoping’s foreign policy - he adopted Sun Tzu, China’s ancient master strategist’s advice - “appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
Deng’s dictum remained a wise posture. Indeed, Deng’s wisdom in regard to the territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas resonates even more today.
He recognized the insoluble character of the disputes and urged postponing sovereignty and pursuing joint development of resources as Xi Jinping follow through.
Xi has history in these parts too. His father was handpicked by Mr Deng to be Guangdong's governor. He even paid tribute at a bronze statue of Mr Deng. He is replicating the famous tour of Guangdong and Shenzhen made in 1992 by China's then reformist leader, Deng Xiaoping.
While CCP learnt lessons from Soviet Fall that u need to be economically flexible and superpower and mere ideology, grandeur of past wont suffice. Putin still hasn’t learnt that is caught up in a time wrap of Russian Empire without that economic strength.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has written thousands of internal papers, held study sessions and even produced a documentary about the downfall of its former rival and ideological cousin in USSR.
China's greatest success was the Soviet Union's biggest catastrophe: The economy.
In the early days, the USSR was an economic rival to the United States, with a huge manufacturing capacity but, in the end, corruption destroyed efficiency.
In the early days, the USSR was an economic rival to the United States, with a huge manufacturing capacity but, in the end, corruption destroyed efficiency.
By the final years USSR's economy was practically groaning with the costs of space and arms races with the US, and proxy wars in Latin America, Africa and Afghanistan. Soviet Union's planned economy was centrally controlled, beset by inefficiency, waste and shortages of goods.
Conscious of the USSR's blunders, Beijing rejected the socialist command economy, and embraced what it calls "capitalism with Chinese characteristics". China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and blossomed into the "world's factory" virtually overnight with US blessings
Glasnost — which roughly translates in English to openness — was Gorbachev's last-ditch gambit to save the USSR in the mid-80s.
After decades of censorship and secrecy, Gorbachev said the time had come for increased government transparency and freedom of expression.
After decades of censorship and secrecy, Gorbachev said the time had come for increased government transparency and freedom of expression.
With that in mind, Beijing's leadership has been far more careful to manage the flow of information within China.
A combination of state laws and technology creates what is known as the Great Firewall of China, blocking or restricting access to Western sites, including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Wikipedia.
Soviet satellite states began to drift from the USSR's orbit in the 1980s.
By Christmas Day, 1991, all that was left was a significantly smaller Russia with three-quarters of the USSR's territory and half its population.
By Christmas Day, 1991, all that was left was a significantly smaller Russia with three-quarters of the USSR's territory and half its population.
In contrast, Beijing has tried to keep regions on the periphery — Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet — under increasingly tight control.
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