[Source: Reuters]

As news broke that mercenary Wagner troops were careering towards Moscow in a short-lived rebellion, several businessmen from southern China began frantically calling factories to halt shipments of goods destined for Russia.

While the mutiny – the biggest test of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s leadership since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine – quickly faded, some of these exporters are now left questioning their future dependence on Beijing’s closest ally.

Though the crisis has eased, “some people remain on the sidelines, as they’re not sure what will happen later,” he added, declining to name the companies pausing shipments.

China has sought to play down the weekend’s events and voiced support for Moscow, with which it struck a “no limits” partnership shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in what Moscow calls a “special military operation”.

But a top U.S. official on Monday said the weekend uprising had unsettled Beijing’s cloistered leadership, and some analysts inside and outside China have started to question whether Beijing needs to ease off its political and economic ties to Moscow.

China’s foreign ministry, which described the aborted mutiny as Russia’s “internal affairs” and expressed support for Moscow’s efforts to stabilise the situation, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private army that has fought some of Russia’s bloodiest battles in the Ukraine war, led the armed revolt after he alleged a huge number of his fighters had been killed in friendly fire.

But the mercenary leader abruptly called the uprising off on Saturday evening as his fighters approached Moscow while facing virtually no resistance during a dash of nearly 800 km (500 miles).

China did not comment as the crisis unfolded, but released a statement on Sunday when Foreign Minister Qin Gang hosted a surprise meeting with Russia’s deputy foreign minister in Beijing.

At the heart of China and Russia’s relations is a shared opposition to what they see as a world dominated by the United States and the expansion of the NATO military alliance that threatens their security.

After securing an unprecedented third term as president earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first overseas trip to Moscow to meet his “dear friend” Putin.

While nationalistic commentators in state-run Chinese tabloids cheered Putin’s swift efforts to stamp out the rebellion, even some in China – where critical speech is tightly controlled – have started to question Beijing’s bet on Russia.

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