Beijing's Shell Game: The Farce of Chinese Neutrality on Ukraine

While Beijing cloaks itself in supposed neutrality, playing the part of the wise, peace-seeking mediator for a global audience, the reality on the ground unmasks a cynical and dangerous double game. China's position is not neutrality; it is a well-orchestrated farce, a shell game where one hand waves an olive branch while the other fuels Moscow's war machine. It is time to call this what it is: a global mockery.

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The editorial from the Chinese website *Observer*, which laments Western misunderstanding and America's "black and white" policy, is the height of hypocrisy. It portrays a China pushed almost reluctantly into Russia's arms by American intransigence. This victim narrative crumbles pathetically in the face of a series of objective facts that prove Beijing's systematic and decisive support for Vladimir Putin.

**1. The Vote of Shame at the UN:**

On the stage of world diplomacy, China has dropped its mask countless times. When faced with UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Russian aggression, sham referendums, and illegal annexations, where did Beijing stand? It did not condemn. It abstained. An abstention that is not impartiality, but a blatant political green light for Moscow. In diplomacy, failing to oppose an aggressor is tantamount to legitimizing it. Every Chinese abstention has been a stab in the back of international law and a lifeline for the Kremlin's isolation.

**2. The Lifeblood of the War Economy:**

While the West imposed sanctions to choke Russia's ability to finance the conflict, China opened its coffers, becoming the banker and market of last resort for Moscow. The data is damning: trade between the two countries has exploded to record levels. Beijing buys Russian oil and gas at bargain prices that Russia can no longer sell to Europe, injecting billions into the Kremlin's treasury. This is not just business; it is a deliberate strategic choice to nullify the impact of sanctions and keep the Russian economy afloat.

**3. Complicit Banks and Shadow Financial Channels:** The support is not just commercial. Chinese financial institutions, especially regional banks on the Russian border, have been sanctioned by the very European partners Beijing claims to respect. The reason? They created alternative channels for financial transactions, helping Russia bypass its exclusion from the SWIFT system and continue operating in international markets. This is finance in the service of war, with the tacit consent of the central government.

**4. The "Non-Lethal" Arsenal That Kills:**

Here, the shell game reaches its climax. Beijing swears it does not supply lethal weapons—a fig leaf hiding a dirtier reality. Russia doesn't need Chinese rifles; it needs everything required to build its own. And China is providing precisely that. Drones, microchips, high-precision machinery, and "dual-use" components are flowing across the border, directly feeding Russian weapons factories. Western intelligence sources agree: nearly two-thirds of the foreign components found in Russian weapons originate from or are re-exported through China. This is not "non-lethal" aid; these are the bricks used to build the missiles raining down on Ukrainian cities.

China's policy is not that of a neutral actor seeking a solution. It is the policy of an accomplice that, for its own geopolitical imperatives and its vision of an anti-Western world, has chosen to back an aggressor. The rhetoric of peace is just smoke and mirrors, a smokescreen to hide the material, economic, and diplomatic support for a brutal war.

The West is not pushing China toward Russia. China has chosen its side, and it is not the side of law, sovereignty, and peace. It is on the side of those who violate borders and believe in the law of the strongest. It is time to stop believing the fairytale of the gentle giant and face the hard truth: Beijing is a strategic partner of Russia in this war. With each passing day, its claim of neutrality becomes more of a tragic joke—an insult to intelligence and to the suffering of the Ukrainian people.