US: Xi Jinping 'wouldn't be ecstatic' if Putin invades Ukraine during Beijing Olympics

A senior official from the United States suggested on Wednesday that Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 scheduled to take place in China next week could impact Russian President Vladimir Putin’s calculations over a possible invasion of Ukraine. According to CNN, during a virtual European think tank event, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said that the Winter Olympics in Beijing could affect Putin’s thinking about potential military action. She also suggested that Chinese President Xi Jinping “would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine."

The Beijing Olympics will be kickstarted at the beginning of February and Putin plans to be there, Sherman also said, according to the report. It is pertinent to note here that there’s some unique history involving both Russia’s military actions and the Olympics. In 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia were wrapping up. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia at the time Beijing was hosting the Summer Olympics. 

Meanwhile, as Russia reportedly ramps up its troop presence near its border with Ukraine, US President Joe Biden’s administration has been raising warnings over the imminent invasion of Ukraine by Moscow. The US Department of Defence or Pentagon on Monday even announced that up to 8,500 troops were placed on heightened alert for a possible deployment to Eastern Europe in order to support the NATO countries in the face of Russia’s military action, if there is any.

Sherman, however, did not suggest that the United States had any intelligence on how the Beijing Olympics could impact Kremlin’s actions involving Ukraine. She said on Wednesday that “even the people around" Putin don't know what he will do. She said that the US views “every indication that he is going to use military force, sometime perhaps now and in the middle of February."

"I think they know the plans of setting up the military to be ready to go, and to have plans to make use of the military, but I suspect the President has other plans in mind as well. And I have no idea if he's made the ultimate decision," she said at an event hosted by Yalta European Strategy, as per the report.

China dismissed report of asking Putin to not invade Ukraine

Sherman’s remarks about Beijing Winter Olympics impacting Russia’s invasion came as the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday dismissed a report that said it might have asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to not further invade Ukraine during the sporting event. The report rejected by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Putin on call in December and asked the Russian leader to not invade Ukraine during the Games. 

According to Zhao, “The report is purely made up out of thin air. It seeks not only to smear and drive a wedge in China-Russia relations, but also to deliberately disrupt and undermine the Beijing Winter Olympics”. Meanwhile, the Kremlin also denied the report and called it “fake news and a way to inflame tensions”, according to Russian state news agency TASS. The Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 will start on 4 February and end on 20 February.

(Image: AP)