How Crimea Plays in Beijing » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
▻http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/03/21/how-crimea-plays-in-beijing
Pepe Escobar,
... again the West misinterpreted China’s abstention from the UN Security Council vote on a US-backed resolution condemning the Crimea referendum. The spin was that Russia – which vetoed the resolution – was “isolated”. It’s not. And the way Beijing plays geopolitics shows it’s not.
Prison Planet.com » China Takes Sides: Sues Ukraine For $3bn Loan Repayment
▻http://www.prisonplanet.com/china-takes-sides-sues-ukraine-for-3bn-loan-repayment.html
It is widely known that Russia is owed billions by Ukraine for already-delivered gas (as we noted earlier, leaving Gazprom among the most powerful players in this game). It is less widely know that Russia also hold $3b of UK law bonds which, as we explained in detail here, are callable upon certain covenants that any IMF (or US) loan bailout will trigger. Russia has ‘quasi’ promised not to call those loans. It is, until now, hardly known at all (it would seem) that China is also owed $3bn, it claims, for loans made for future grain delivery to China.It would seem clear from this action on which side of the ‘sanctions’ fence China is sitting.