What is the real role of the United States and China in the Ukraine war?

The war in Ukraine completes one year this Friday (24). The United Nations estimates that the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory has so far left more than 7,000 civilians dead and another 11,000 injured.

On the one hand, Kiev has military support from the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to resist the occupation. On the other hand, Moscow receives – albeit in a veiled way – support from China.

To understand the real role of the US and China in the conflict in Eastern Europe, the CNN heard experts on the subject. See below:

In the evaluation of the doctor in International Relations Carlos Gustavo Poggio, the American conduct in the combat is directly related to the way in which the government of President Joe Biden assimilates the conflict.

Since the beginning of the war, the US has supplied Ukraine with military equipment such as missiles, tanks and air defense systems.

“The US views war as a conflict between democracies and autocracies. The democracies, represented by the US itself and its allies, and the autocracies, represented by Russia and China”, says Poggio.

He explains that the war in Ukraine puts at risk the international order (led by the US) built since the end of World War II. “This is what Putin is challenging and, on the other hand, this is what the US is defending.”

The expert adds that the US derives no “material benefit” from getting involved in the war. Finally, he points out that members of the Republican opposition have shown concern about the shipment of equipment and the costs of the war for the American economy.

On the other side of the globe, China, Moscow’s historical ally, adopted a different posture from that applied by Washington. Beijing, for example, has not supplied Russian forces with weapons.

However, this does not mean that China has aligned itself with the West. On the contrary. The professor of International Relations at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ) Leticia Simões recalls that the Asian country abstained from the sanctions imposed on Russia by the West at the United Nations.

“It shows that China did not agree with the West’s actions, but did not want to declare support for the role that Russia was playing in invading a sovereign state. Beijing is taking a stand in the war with one foot here and the other there,” said the professor.

For the expert, explicitly validating the Russian invasion could put China in a “right skirt”. “If it supported the invasion, China could not be too emphatic against possible foreign presences in Taiwan.”

The tiny island located in the democratically governed South China Sea is claimed by Beijing as its own territory, despite strong objections from the Taipei government, which rejects sovereignty claims and says only the people of the island have the right to decide your future.

“It is difficult for China to support Russia in an invasion of a sovereign state because it could backfire on China itself,” concluded the expert.

Source: CNN Brasil

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