The Spectator magazine combines incisive political analysis with books and arts reviews of unrivaled authority. Absolutely free. Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher.

Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu.

Every episode, I'll be talking to journalists, experts, and long-time China

watches about the latest in Chinese politics, society, and more. There'll be a smattering

of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well. How do the

Chinese see these issues? As Xi Jinping visits Vladimir Putin in Russia this week, this episode of Chinese Whispers is returning to one of the missions of this podcast series, to look at things as the Chinese see them.

My guest today is Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel of the People's Liberation Army, whose military service started in 1979.

He is now a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University,

an eloquent and informed advocate of Beijing's perspective.

On the podcast, I want to get his views on some of the burning questions

surrounding China's involvement in the Russian invasion since it began last year

and challenge him on some of the

inconsistencies in the Chinese position. For example, if the Chinese say that they care

about sovereignty so much, why don't they do more about the Russian invasion? And now, before we get

started, just to note that we recorded most of this podcast two weeks ago, so Wednesday's visit

to Moscow was announced last week, Boa kindly agreed

to rejoin the podcast and give his stake on the visit to you. Now, chances are, you won't agree

with most of the things that Boer says, and as you're here, I often didn't either. But even so,

Beijing will continue to play a crucial role in the war, and so it remains important for the

West to understand how the Chinese see things.

Joubo, welcome to Chinese whispers.

Now, China's position has often been criticised in the West for being too supportive of Russia.

...