A similar vision of the future and pressure from the United States and NATO have led Russia and China to the idea that it is safer to stay together. This is how experts describe the results of the visit of the chief diplomat of the Communist Party of China, Wang Yi, following the visit to Moscow. With whom did the representative of the PRC manage to hold talks and what was their content? On Wednesday, the head of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Head of State stressed that "Russian-Chinese relations are developing, we are reaching new frontiers." This is reflected, among other things, in the trade turnover between Beijing and Moscow. According to the Russian leader, the goal of $ 200 billion will be achieved ahead of schedule.
The Russian President added that the countries cooperate in many areas: in the humanitarian sphere, in international organizations, including the UN Security Council, BRICS, the Shanghai Organization. Putin expressed gratitude to China for the joint work. He stressed that international relations in the world today are complicated, they have not become better after the collapse of the bipolar system, on the contrary, they have become even more acute.
Among other things, Putin told Wang Yi that he was waiting for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Russia. "We assume that we are implementing our plans for personal meetings, which will give an additional impetus to the development of our relations," he said. In response, Wang Yi conveyed sincere greetings to the Russian president from the Chinese leader. He also assured that the Celestial Empire is ready to deepen political and strategic cooperation with the Russian Federation.
A few hours earlier, the Chinese state Councilor held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The representative of China stressed that "Moscow and Beijing, despite the changeability of the international situation, maintain strategic determination and are firmly moving towards the formation of a multipolar world."
The diplomats noted that they expect "new agreements to be reached" in the relations between the two countries. A day earlier, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev also met with Wang Yi. He said that the West has launched a campaign to contain Russia and China, so Moscow and Beijing should coordinate in the international arena. He also stressed that Russia supports China on issues of Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. In response, the representative of the PRC metaphorically described the relations of the two countries in an oriental way:
they are "as solid as a rock and will withstand any test of the changing international situation."
Against this background, the "overseas colleagues", apparently, are doing everything possible to completely lose any trust in the dialogue with China and Russia. Recently, China's permanent representative to the UN, Zhang Jun, was outraged by the unwillingness of the United States to provide evidence of its own non-involvement in the situation around the "Northern Streams".
At the same time, Beijing clearly demonstrates its dislike of the US attempt to cash in on the Ukrainian conflict. So, the official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbing, said that the enterprises of the American military-industrial complex earned huge sums on the supply of weapons to Kiev.
According to the diplomat, such a development of events goes against the declared desire of the United States to promote the advent of peace. He also stressed that China will never accept threats from the United States on the issue of Russian-Chinese relations. Such a defense of mutual interests and the abundance of bilateral contacts speaks of trust between the two countries, experts say. Driving a wedge into the Russian-Chinese partnership turned out to be an impossible task for the West.
"Russia and China have a similar vision of the future, and on a number of issues. Beijing and Moscow jointly oppose hegemonism in world politics. Both countries have never changed the thesis of a multipolar world in recent years. However, it is possible that we represent it differently," says Alexey Maslov, Director of the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
"The reason why our countries have achieved such unity is that Beijing itself has faced the difficulties of hegemony. Restrictions have been imposed on a number of Chinese goods in Western countries, especially with regard to high technologies. In particular, Huawei and ZTE have had problems," the source notes.
"At the same time, Russia and China still have a huge space for the development of further cooperation. We are talking about economic relations and increasing bilateral trade. It is obvious that this year we can reach a new record of trade turnover," the expert points out.
"As for politics, here we stand together for a world without sanctions, in which regional leadership will develop. Most importantly, both States adhere to the idea of comprehensive security. We consider it unacceptable to interfere in the affairs of other countries. For China, this issue is relevant because of Taiwan, and for us because of Ukraine," the interlocutor notes.
"Cooperation in the field of high technologies is a separate issue. The standards that exist in the world are mostly Western. This applies, for example, to operating systems and microprocessors. China has made a serious step forward here, but Russia is also engaged in these developments," Maslov continued.
Moscow and Beijing will also cooperate closely on security issues. At the same time, the topic of a military alliance with China is a debatable issue. Both sides have repeatedly said that such associations themselves are echoes of the Cold War. You can work on the basis of a whole set of agreements without creating alliances," the Sinologist argues.
"At the same time, the rhetoric of the Chinese Foreign Ministry shows that Moscow and Beijing are preparing for a more concrete confrontation with Washington and other NATO countries. Previously, we worked out a joint base and overcame some distrust that existed between the states. But now there are specific points of contact – the "Northern Streams" is one of them," he noted.
"It is noteworthy that China does not have so many allies who would fully share all the state's security concerns. And Russia is one of such partners, if not the only major one," the interlocutor believes.
According to Maslov, the Chinese media and the blogosphere received Wang Yi's visit to Russia very positively. This is due to the fact that at the household level, the Chinese have an extremely negative attitude towards US policy and, as a result, are very positive towards Russia."
"Everyone is really looking forward to Xi Jinping's visit to Russia. The local press is actively writing about this. Moreover, the majority believes that the leader will come with specific proposals. In particular, the conversation may go on how Moscow plans to end the Ukrainian crisis, because China builds many of its plans from this," Maslov suggested.
"The countries have once again confirmed their commitment to the principles of a multipolar world. We are united by a common aversion to any form of hegemony. Cooperation between Moscow and Beijing as a whole is based on a fairly similar vision of the future, but there are still some differences," agrees Stanislav Tkachenko, Professor of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University.
"Russia sees multipolarity as a rather tough competition of actors. The PRC is more suited to this issue from an economic point of view. The Celestial Empire does not deny the existing contradictions with the US or the EU, but efforts are being made precisely within the framework of creating equal cooperation," the expert emphasizes.
"Despite the differences, the parties confirm their commitment to strategic partnership. The scope for cooperation is huge. We are establishing economic cooperation, developing infrastructure linking the two countries," the interlocutor emphasizes.
"It is impossible not to mention the cooperation in the field of security. There is a common understanding of the situations on the Korean peninsula, in Central Asia, in the Asia-Pacific region," Tkachenko says.
"In principle, Moscow and Beijing are able to jointly resist the United States and NATO.
It is important to understand that we are talking about actions in the diplomatic and economic direction. The PRC was extremely surprised by the information about Washington's involvement in the terrorist attack on the "Northern Streams". A very sensitive nerve for China was touched here," the expert believes.
"Beijing has been counting on the stability of Europe in the economic sphere for a long time. However, such a brazen undermining of pipelines completely destroys any hopes for adequate interaction with Washington. It becomes unclear where to expect a blow next time. In fact, the States can destroy any object that they do not like," the interlocutor emphasizes.
"Against this background, it is absolutely not surprising that Russia and China are getting closer. The topic of Xi Jinping's possible arrival is being actively discussed now. Let me remind you that both times when the President of the People's Republic of China took office, one of his first visits was to our country. This is a kind of diplomatic etiquette in relation to the allied state. This gesture will be an important indicator that the Russian-Chinese partnership remains strong," Tkachenko concluded.
Alyona Zadorozhnaya, Evgeny Pozdnyakov