Russia reaches out to China as West fumes over Georgia

Russia reaches out to China as West fumes over Georgia

by Nick Coleman 1 hour, 43 minutes ago MOSCOW (AFP)

- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Wednesday, as Moscow looked to bolster support in a diplomatic stand-off with the West over its conflict with Georgia.

Western governments have roundly condemned Russia's decision to formally recognise the independence of the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia . Maintaining Russia's defiance, Moscow's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, told a Russian newspaper, Vremya Novostei, that any attack by the alliance on the Moscow-backed regions would "mean a declaration of war on Russia."

Medvedev was to fly to the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan for talks with Hu on the eve of a regional summit on Thursday that officials have said could address the Georgia crisis.

Medvedev is to join leaders on Thursday for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement, a regional security group dominated by Russia and China that includes four former Soviet Central Asian countries.

The group was set up in 2001 and has become a counterweight to NATO's influence in the strategic Central Asian region.

should china support russia on South Ossetia?Georgia also asked China to help.www.voanews.com...,and russia is a powerful neighbour,it is more important than any other country to china.that could be a hard decision to make..

China and India are most likely to remain neutral on this ...

even on the kosovo issue , both remained neutral

i just checked major chinese forums,the opinions fiercely differ on this issue,but the majority of the posters support russia and praise russian president's firm stance.

Originally posted by haidian
i just checked major chinese forums,the opinions fiercely differ on this issue,but the majority of the posters support russia and praise russian president's firm stance.

In a relative sense, it does not matter the general population's want or not.

The only real issue is if the Chinese government is going to take sides.

I suspect that it leans towards Russia very strongly,
HOWEVER!!!

I also suspect that the Chinese government will not take a public stance on the issue.

The reason is China has area's that want to break away also.

If China were to support break always in Georgia, it would legitimize the Chinese break always.

Also, it is my understanding that China-more specifically the Chinese government, strongly desires status quo.

They neither accept nor want change; they prefer same old, same old.

"IF" China supported the Soviet Empires retaking of land, I wonder what would happen when the US/West supports break always in China???? (Read Taiwan/Tibet).

china knows the west will always support tibet and taiwan,openly or secretly,they can never be trusted.and china supported the territorial integrity of yogoslavia with russia,but still that country was carved up by nato.that's double standard,we kosovo should be independent and South Ossetia should not??

russia has never ever supported taiwan and tibetan seperatists ,even when the russian sino relationship hit bottom low several decades ago.so i think china should throw it's full support behind russians this time.

Russia wins backing from China, Central Asia over Georgia

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