Diplomacy, at last

round three for the American and Chinese siloviki

The American government today sends its top China-hawk, Jake Sullivan, to parley in Rome with Yang Jiechi. It’s been reported that a purpose of the meeting according to the US side is to browbeat China over the war in Ukraine: to warn it against helping Russia evade Western sanctions, or possibly worse, following assertions by the Americans (and denied by the Chinese) that Russia has requested military assistance from China.

It’s hard to know what the US or the Chinese are hoping to gain by this little war of words. Wouldn’t it make more sense for both of them to collaborate via the UN or otherwise in developing a constructive role for China in Euro-Atlantic security? If that’s what they’re actually up to, they have a strange way of showing it, but more power to them. If not, then all one can say is that these people really don’t miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.