In this episode of La Loupe, Xavier Yvon explains relations between China and Russia with Clément Daniez, journalist for the World service of L’Express.
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The team: Xavier Yvon (presentation), Charlotte Baris (writing), Ambre Rosala (editing), Jules Krot (directing) and Marion Galard (work-study).
Music and dressing: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Picture credits: Sergei Bobylov/AFP
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain/Benjamin Chazal
How to listen to a podcast? Follow the leader.
Xavier Yvon: The scene that I am going to tell you to start this episode is a diplomatic meeting. If you regularly listen to La Loupe, you are starting to get used to these descriptions that we particularly like to illustrate geopolitical balances
Let me set the scene for you: we are in a large reception room with long red curtains at the windows and light gray marble on the floor. There is a huge painting on the left and in the middle a large dark wooden table. The doors open: Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin enter. In the media corner, cameramen jostle and cameras crackle.
The two leaders settle on either side of the table, the tension is palpable, the faces are tense and both seem extremely concentrated. Behind them flags, those of Russia and Ukraine, but also a third, entirely red with yellow stars in the left corner. It is indeed the Chinese flag… Xi Jinping is also seated around this table. This meeting was organized by the Chinese president.
You have understood that the scene that I am describing to you has not taken place (at least not yet). If we imagined it, it’s because it could well happen one day. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, China has been playing a balancing act between its open friendship with Russia, the relationship with Europe that needs to be healed, and now the image of a potential mediator.
In today’s episode, we look closely at a year-long relationship between China and Russia, the evolution of which could well weigh on the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine.
For further
PODCAST. Will the war in Ukraine plunge the former Soviet empire into chaos?
War in Ukraine: our analyses, decryptions and interviews
War in Ukraine: Switzerland’s untenable neutrality
Russia: the dream of emancipation of ethnic minorities