Manoj Kewalramani quoted in the New Yorker on China‘s learning from the Ukraine crisis
Manoj Kewalramani was quoted in a New Yorker article by Evan Osnos on what China is learning from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.
Osnos writes:
Historically, the Chinese Communist Party fretted about other powers seizing territory, fearing that someone could encroach on its own sovereignty. But, under Xi, it has become increasingly brazen about pursuing its territorial ambitions in the South and East China Seas; along the Indian border; and with regard to Taiwan, the democratically ruled archipelago that has become an object of rising threats. With those clashes in mind, Manoj Kewalramani, a China specialist at the Takshashila Institution, a think tank in Bengaluru, India, sees the current China-Russia relationship as a worrying indicator of a growing tolerance for disruptive confrontations. “It’s clear that both sides believe that force and coercion, to varying degrees, and through various tools, are necessary to shape this new order,” he said, at the C.S.I.S. forum on Wednesday. When Putin visited Xi in Beijing earlier this month, they released a major new statement of common purpose, which, notably, included China’s backing of Russia’s objections to nato expansion. Kewalramani regards that statement as “China stepping much further than it did in 2014.” He said, “This is a fundamental shift.”