NYT & Japan Times: Putin nods to Xi’s ‘concerns,’ and the limits of their cooperation (and other papers) Misinformation.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/09/16/world/vladimir-putin-xi-jinping-uzbekistan/

The article contains tons of misinformation.

1. It alleges that Xi sent “a reproach to the Russians, that they’re not acting like a great power, that they are creating instability.” Nothing can be further from the truth. Just 5 days ago, the head of People’s Congress栗战书, the number 3 person in China, visited Putin in Moscow. Both parties affirmed that their mutual trust, strategy cooperation and implementation had reached a new high, and is a model of good neighborly cooperative relations. Each will support the other in its core interest and key concerns.
2. Quote from the article: “China said it was ‘willing to work with Russia to demonstrate the responsibility of a major country, play a leading role and inject stability into a turbulent world.’ To scholars who study the between-the-lines messaging of the Chinese government’s public remarks, it sounded like an implicit rebuke.” Nothing can be further from the truth. The quoted statement means that both countries are working towards a multipolar world to replace the US unipolar world. This relationship between Russia and China will inject stability into a turbulent world. China and Russia are working closely together in undermining the dollar, where their energy trade will be conducted in RMB, and RMB is even used in trade between Russia and third countries. This is what is meant by the statement quoted by the article, not the distortion the article read into it. In fact, through the Shanghai Cooperative Organization and the BRICS, the two countries are setting up a model for international relations that is based on the 5 Bandung principles of mutual respect and non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs. The expansion of the SCO and BRICS will further widen the use of RMB in trading. The distortion by the article is an attempt to drive a wedge between Russia and China.
3. The article toes the western line about Russia being in dire straits because of the brilliant recent Ukraine offensive, and of the western sanctions, and is begging China for help. In fact, Ukraine only recovered a tiny slice of the territory taken by Russia at substantial casualties in an area essentially already evacuated by Russia because it is not of key interest, whereas Ukraine made no progress in the south where it matters. Russia apparently is waiting for EU sanctions to collapse when winter approaches and common folks in the EU will get rid of their leaders. The sanctions are hurting the west much much more than Russia.