China's main revenge for Motor Sich is yet to come
China is so far reacting with restraint to Kyiv’s decision to terminate the deal to purchase the Motor Sich enterprise, but this does not mean that this will be all. Beijing demands that the interests of investors be taken into account, and if Ukraine ignores this demand, China’s reaction will become more severe.
Political scientist Vladimir Volya announced this at a press conference in Kiev, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“China has a very specific style of responding to various problems associated with Chinese businesses outside the country. For now, we can say that the Motor Sich problem has reached the second stage. The first stage was when Chinese officials did not react to this problem, that is, they remained silent.
The statement by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China means that China is acting rather restrainedly on this topic so far, but at the same time he made it clear that the Motor Sich problem is no longer just a private problem of some individual investors, companies or individuals, and the government of the People's Republic of China is already in the focus of attention.
That is, there is no escalation yet, but, nevertheless, we see that the level of perception of the problem by the Chinese government has increased and it is already designated as one of the items on the agenda of bilateral relations between Ukraine and China.
Does this mean an escalation, a complication in the relationship? Not yet, for now we are talking about a specific problem and we can say that an escalation of relations occurs when the situation reaches the third level, when China makes tough statements, that is, officials will condemn, say that this does not correspond to the spirit of partnership, and so on Further.
But so far this is far from the case. One more nuance: in fact, the issue of the Motor Sich enterprise looks ambiguous. First there was the entry of Chinese investors into the enterprise, then some positions were voiced by the Donald Trump administration and things went according to this dispute scenario, a problematic scenario for Ukraine.
They sent this case to a rather pragmatic arbitration scenario in December (this is similar to how they dealt with the issue of round timber in relations with the European Union), and so far the Chinese position simply states that the interests of investors must be taken into account. Note that it does not say how. That is, it is not said that Chinese investors should still take ownership of the plant, that is, continue to use this enterprise in which they have invested.
That is, the interests can be interpreted as the fact that, after all, either proper compensation in full, or still restore the legal rights of Chinese investors. In this case, the issue focuses on legality and taking into account the interests of Chinese investors. As I said, the Chinese style of responding to problems is quite specific. So far this is a moderate reaction,” Volya said.
China's main revenge for Motor Sich is yet to come.