Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping made economic and strategic connections that are ultimately feeding Russia's invasion into Ukraine and helping Putin's increasingly isolated economy lean on China to subsist, according to far east expert Gordon Chang.
"Just a few hours before the Olympics started, China and Russia announced their oil and gas deals — $117.5 billion," Chang told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on WABC 770 AM-N.Y. "Also, in the last few days they announced a coal deal — 100 million metric tons of Russian coal for China. China is financing the Russian push on Ukraine.
"It's not just the petroleum and commodity dollars; it's also providing access to an alternate financial system," Chang added to host John Catsimatidis.
Also, China has lifted restrictions on the importing of Russian wheat, which "further helps Russia finance is invasion of Ukraine," Chang told Sunday's "Wake Up America" on Newsmax.
"Although it might have some second thoughts about what it is doing, it is still supporting the Russians to the hilt," Chang told host Carl Higbie.
Beijing had designs on taking Taiwan, but seeing this Russian invasion "not be successful" has Beijing perhaps looking to "distance itself from Russia," Chang added to Higbie.
"Because if this invasion fails, then it puts Beijing in a very bad light," he said, noting NATO allies activating its response force is signaling to China that similar actions will be taken if it made a move on Taiwan.
Still, Xi's position on Taiwan has not changed, save for perhaps "timing," Chang added to Higbie.
Ultimately, Chang told Catsimatidis, the Biden administration has been too soft on both China and Russia to date, two countries President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden have had close ties to.
"We know that China is supporting Russia," Chang said. "So the question is: Are we going to go after China for backfilling sanctions that we will impose on Russia? I'm not sure that the Biden administration will move in time. It will repeat a mistake."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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