A policy advisor for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) State Council who called for China to distance itself from Russia’s war in Ukraine in an article had his article censored across the Chinese web a few hours after its publication. Hu Wei, vice-chairman of the Public Policy Research Centre of the Counsellor’s Office of the State Council, wrote to warn the CCP’s decision-makers of what he predicts will be Russian President Vladimir Putin’s defeat and “a short time window” for China to pick sides between Russia and the West. Hu’s article, titled “Possible Outcomes of the Russo-Ukrainian War and China’s Choice,” was first published in Chinese on the U.S.-China Perception Monitor (USCNPM) website, a publication operated by the U.S.-based non-profit The Carter Center on March 5, two days after China abstained from voting on a United Nations General Assembly motion to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The article, which was posted …