“Jinping is a little worried about the reputational damage that may be affecting China over the brutality of Russian aggression against Ukraine, and is certainly concerned about the economic uncertainty that the war has caused,” Burns said. He stressed that Si mainly “focuses on predictability”.
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He also mentioned that the Russian-Chinese “friendship without borders” mentioned before the aggression actually has its limits. According to Burns, China was horrified that “what Putin did is bringing Europeans and Americans closer together.”
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The CIA director expressed the view that China was carefully examining the lessons to be learned from the invasion with regard to Taiwan. “I don’t think for a minute that it would erode Sio’s determination to gain control of Taiwan,” Burns said.
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Opinions have already emerged in China that it might be better to give up on Russia than to strengthen ties with it.
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Even weakening powers are dangerous
At the same time, Burns acknowledged the danger from Russia and its President Vladimir Putin: “In a very disturbing way, this has demonstrated that the disappearing powers can be at least as disruptive as the emerging ones.”
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Putin was not deterred from continuing the war by saying that the second phase of the conflict in Donbas is “at least as risky, or even more risky,” than the first phase, when Russia failed to target Kyiv and Chernihiv.
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“Putin thinks he can’t afford to lose, so the stakes are high at this stage. I think he is convinced that doubling them now will allow him to make progress, “said the CIA chief.
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He stressed that although the US intelligence service did not have “evidence” that Russia planned to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, this option could not be taken lightly.
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