Can China be trusted? As the Russia-Ukraine war shows, Beijing often says one thing and does another

China’s rise over the last several decades, characterised by its expanding economic and military power, has been miraculous. But there is a paradox associated with that rise: as its power has increased, trust in China has declined. The war in Ukraine helps to explain this paradox. Less than two months before Russia’s invasion, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky that he attached “high importance to developing the Chinese-Ukrainian strategic partnership.” But only weeks later, Xi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, declared that their countries’ buddi…

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