CIA: China concerned about Russia's failures in Ukraine, Kremlin's nuclear rhetoric
CIA Director William Burns believes that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the failure of their initial plan and the subsequent nuclear rhetoric, caused concern on the part of China’s leader Xi Jinping.
This is reported by Ukrinform with reference to Voice of America.
"I don't think any foreign leader has paid more careful attention to that war and Russia's poor military performance than Xi Jinping has, as he thinks about his own ambitions in Taiwan and elsewhere," the director of the Central Intelligence Agency said in an interview with PBS.
According to him, "it’s been interesting to watch the Chinese leadership’s reaction to the war in Ukraine," because a few weeks before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the Winter Olympics in Beijing and declared "boundless friendship."
However, as Burns noted, the limits of this partnership became apparent within a few weeks – Beijing is not supplying weapons to Russia.
"So, it turns out that there actually are some limits to that partnership, at least in terms of President Xi's reluctance to supply the kind of military assistance to Putin that he's asked for in the course of the war in Ukraine," the CIA director said.
When asked what worries the leadership of the Central Intelligence Agency most about this conflict, Burns replied that it is the Kremlin's nuclear rhetoric. "[T]here's been some, I think, very dangerous nuclear saber-rattling that Putin and others around him have done," Burns said.
He added that he met with the head of Russian intelligence, Sergei Naryshkin. According to Burns, Moscow is trying to intimidate the West, but he insists that at the moment American intelligence analysts "don't see any clear evidence today of plans to use tactical nuclear weapons."
“We have made very clear, the president has made very clear to the Russians what the serious risks of that would be. I think it's also been very useful that Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi in India have also raised their concerns about use of nuclear weapons as well. I think that's also having an impact on the Russians,” Burns said.
As reported by Ukrinform, CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv on Tuesday, November 15, to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and intelligence community chiefs.
Photo: CNN