Editor’s note for March 22, 2023

My thoughts today:

Is China looking at Russian lands with lust, even as Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 and Vladimir Putin embrace each other?

On February 17, China’s Ministry of Land Resources ordered maps to include traditional Chinese names for far Eastern Russian places (announcement dated February17 here, archived here, a draft version of it from November 2022 archived here, English-language report from Kyiv Post here.)

The rule from the Ministry of Land Resources means that maps published in China must include the names of places that are now part of Russia as they were rendered when China controlled them. For example Vladivostok would be:

符拉迪沃斯托 (海參崴)

Fúlādí wò sī tuō kè (hǎishēn wǎi — literally Sea Cucumber Bay)

The rule does not seem to be strictly enforced: Baidu’s current entry on Vladivostok for example, does not include the old Chinese name in the title, but it is noted in the body text.

Nonetheless, one would be naive to think that the vibes from Xi’s just-concluded visit to Moscow will last very long. Perhaps I repeat myself:

March 21:

The optics weren’t great for Putin: he came off as short, poor, and desperate. Xi came off as rich, powerful, and able to grant favors to his beleaguered northern neighbor, with whom his country still has territorial disputes.

March 20:

Xi is visiting Moscow right now.

Imagine how awful this trip must be for him, and also for Putin: They will have to pretend they like and respect each other.

March 17:

China is not going to be able to — or even want to — persuade Putin to back down. Ukraine is not going back down either.

It’s sad to say, but none of this is going to end well, for any of us.