By David Gitter
Chinese admiration for Putin’s hardline policies could put pressure on Beijing to follow suit.
When U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin E. Dempsey aired his concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine gambit might spark nationalistic unrest that spreads to other regions, he clearly didn’t have China in mind. Nevertheless, it is in the Middle Kingdom where a patriotic public infatuated with Putin may force their own government to take a harder line against the West. According to annual surveys held between 2008 and 2014 by InTouch Today, a regular column of China’s mass media giant Tencent, Putin has consistently maintained an over 90 percent approval rating among the Chinese populace. The column cites Chinese propaganda as partly responsible for playing up Putin’s charm. Besides praising his macho physique, one observer quoted by InTouch Today says that Chinese media coverage portrays Putin as everything from a judo master to a fighter jet pilot. Mainland netizens have adorned the Russian leader with the title “Putin the Great.” Clearly the PRC’s nationalist masses have a soft spot for Russia’s leader.
But it is in Chinese foreign policy circles where observers should be most worried about Beijing’s portrayal of Putin and the admiration he receives. Government-affiliated academics have notably praised Russia’s leader for his willingness to challenge the West head-on across a wide range of issues. Inside the first cover story of the year in Global People, a magazine run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mouthpiece People’s Daily, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) researcher Wu Wei praised Putin for usurping America’s traditional role as the defender of democracy by welcoming NSA defector Edward Snowden into the open arms of Russia’s intelligence service. It is worth noting that CASS is directly subordinate to the PRC’s State Council.
Putin has admirers at other major Chinese think tanks as well. Liu Guiling, an analyst at the Ministry of State Security’s China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (PDF) (CICIR), writes that Putin has earned his constituents’ support through the pursuit of Russia’s own “Great Power Dream.” Liu asserts this “dream” includes advancing Russia’s national rejuvenation, creating a stronger military, and standing up to foreign interference — themes reminiscent of President Xi Jinping’s own “China Dream.” Likewise, deputy director of CICIR’s Institute of World Political Studies Chen Xiangyang describes Putin’s foreign policies in the context of a “new international situation” and an increasingly multi-polar world. Chen argues that in 2013, Putin’s pressure on Obama over Syria’s civil war and the Iran nuclear issue helped further Moscow’s interests at America’s expense. Chen went so far as to call Putin an “international strategy chess master” for his defense of Russian strategic interests in this year’s Ukraine crisis.
Read the full story at The Diplomat