#10 - JRL 6585
South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
December 3, 2002
Scholars at Peking University say they regard Putin as the leader of a declining state that has lost its way
Students dismiss former superpower
Mark O'Neill in Beijing

Students at Peking University say they regard Vladimir Putin as the leader of a declining state who cannot restore its power - and that they have no interest in learning Russian or studying in his country.

The snub came as Mr Putin was today due to address nearly 800 students there on the final leg of a three-day official visit, before flying to India, the second stop of his foreign tour.

"Russia is in long-term decline," said Liu Ming, a chemistry student. "You can see no Russian products in the shops of China. Even the Lada and Volga cars I saw in my youth have disappeared from the streets. "It has some competitiveness still in military products, like jet planes which we buy, but little else. In terms of economy, China has surpassed Russia. Putin is a smart man but can do little to arrest this decline for the next 10 years." Mr Liu was unable to obtain one of the precious tickets to attend Putin's talk. "We welcome him here as the head of a foreign state but people are not so excited. Russia does not interest many people," he said.

Student Wang Lili said she was too busy preparing for exams to listen to Mr Putin. "I like him. He is unusual for a Russian leader and can do something. Only a few Chinese want to learn Russian or study there."

Liang Dajun, a computer student, said China's aim was to catch up with the West rather than look to countries like Russia.

"The Soviet Union promoted science and technology but cut itself off from the outside world, which did not know what it was doing, just as it did not know what was going on outside. We prefer to study in the US and Europe.

"For China, relations with the West are more important than those with Russia."

Asked if Mr Putin was a friend of China, several students referred to the phrase "strategic partnership", used since the two countries signed a treaty of friendship and co-operation in July. "People in my parents' generation who learnt Russian have more feelings than we do. In the 1950s, Russians helped to build China, although they did it for their own benefit. But we do not know Russian people and cannot read their literature," Mr Liang said.

He said he had read an interview in a Chinese newspaper yesterday with Andrei Brezhnev, grandson of Leonid, leader of the Soviet Union from 1966 to his death in 1982. "If we had followed the example of the Chinese Communist Party, we would still be in power," Mr Brezhnev, 42, was quoted as saying. "It adapted Marxism to Chinese conditions and made its priority the development of the economy, to deal with the contradictions among people.

"The party in China criticised itself and set itself new targets. The Soviet party lacked this spirit. The greatest mistake of my grandfather and his generation of leaders was that they did not change for 20-30 years. Things ossified, corruption and misuse of power spread. They sealed off the country and we lived as if we were in the middle of a big metal drum," Mr Brezhnev said.