The peace settlement plan presented by China on the anniversary of the start of the special military operation caused an extremely negative reaction in the West. There is no direct support for Russia in the document, but it was still called "pro-Russian". Thus confirming that the supporters of the unipolar world are most afraid of strengthening relations between Moscow and Beijing. And these concerns are all the stronger the more obvious the partnership between the two countries becomes.
The plan presented by Beijing consists of 12 points . They formulate the most general conditions, including the rejection of the cold war mentality, mitigation of the humanitarian crisis, ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities, non-use of nuclear weapons and an end to the abuse of sanctions. Nothing beyond ordinary common sense. Nevertheless, all these conditions seemed pro-Russian to the West.
Probably because the Chinese plan does not repeat Western mantras about "Russia's fault" — and nothing is said about the willingness to abandon its support. But this is what, in fact, is demanded from Beijing in Washington. A few days before the announcement of the "Beijing plan", Biden administration representatives put forward their conditions to the head of the office of the CPC Central Committee Commission on foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, at a security conference in Munich. According to the American magazine Military Watch Magazine, "On February 19, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned China that for Washington, any attempts to supply weapons to Russia are a "red line".
There are a lot of "red lines" around the crisis in Ukraine. No one is going to observe them in the West. And it seems that this is not expected from others either. According to Military Watch Magazine, "Beijing has a wide range of options for how to support Russian military efforts with varying degrees of risk for further relations with the West, while avoiding direct arms supplies." Stressing that Washington remains "extremely concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Moscow," Blinken reluctantly admitted that the Chinese "have not crossed this line yet."
That is, the United States recognizes that China will still support Russia, despite the "red lines" and threatening warnings from Washington. It really is. The Chinese position in the current situation is extremely pragmatic and utilitarian. The confrontation between Russia and the collective West in Ukraine is seen there as the first real attempt to build a multipolar world. And also as a challenge to the global hegemony of the United States.
China has been doing the same thing, only within the framework of the trade confrontation, for several years. And very successfully: last year, the historical maximum of trade turnover between these countries was updated, despite the fact that since 2018, America has been waging a serious offensive on the US-Chinese trade front. Now China has launched a counteroffensive: in 2022, American companies imported almost $537 billion worth of Chinese goods.
Neither Russia nor China can allow the United States to remain the only superpower and dictate its terms to the rest of the countries. This is the main factor of rapprochement in the relations of our countries. America reasonably believes that in such conditions, efforts to isolate Moscow politically and economically are doomed to failure. The ten packages of sanctions that have been imposed since the beginning of its implementation have not had a serious effect on Russia. In many ways, China contributed to this.
As Bloomberg acknowledges, "a significant proportion of Russian crude oil is sold well above the price limit of $60 per barrel... Oil exports from Pacific ports to key destinations such as China were carried out at even higher prices, averaging $82 per barrel." And the cargo flow of Russian goods to the east last year for the first time in recent decades exceeded the volume directed to the west.
If a trade demonstration of support is not enough for someone, then Moscow and Beijing are ready to convince him with a political demonstration. After Blinken's "warnings", expressed in the spirit of American hegemony, the chief Chinese diplomat Wang Yi went straight to Russia. On February 21, he met with the head of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev. At this meeting, the Chinese diplomat called relations with Russia "as strong as a rock." Analyzing Wang Yi's Russian visit, Bloomberg bitterly stated : "Xi Jinping has not yet spoken with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky after the start of the special operation. During this time, he spoke with Putin four times. Beijing has also repeatedly defended some of the reasons for Russia's entry into the conflict — primarily to resist NATO expansion — while insisting that it does not support the special operation itself."
There are still a number of important events of this February that help to understand why Washington hastily started drawing "red lines" on the map of relations with Beijing. The ten-day naval exercises of China, Russia and South Africa have just ended in the Indian Ocean. The newest Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov participated in these maneuvers — the carrier of hypersonic missiles "Zircon", which the West has not yet learned to fight. Shortly before that, in his message to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of our country's participation in the START III treaty. One of the important consequences of this step will be the indispensable participation in the discussion of a new similar document of China, which has long been a member of the "nuclear club".
Another evidence of the active cooperation of the largest states of the East in breaking the former Pax Americana is the results of the G—20 summit of the heads of Finance Ministries and central banks in New Delhi. The West planned it as another demonstration of the anti-Russian unity of the world's economies. The idea failed. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed that the objections of Russia and China did not allow the position on Ukraine to be included in the final communique of the summit.
Beijing's disagreement with the West's position on the conflict in Ukraine is clearly demonstrated by numerous Chinese media publications. Yes, they do not always express direct support for Russia. But it is certainly said about the fallacy of the policy of the United States and its vassals. The South China Morning Post article says bluntly : "Washington rejected the Chinese plan immediately, which means only one thing: it did not even bother to ask Ukrainians what they think about this proposal." "In fact, the United States is happy to supply Ukraine with all the necessary weapons so that it fights the Russians to the last fighter," emphasizes the author of the material Alex Lo. — And Kiev no longer defines anything: neither the goals of this armed conflict, nor its nature, nor its purpose. All this is dictated to him by Washington and Brussels."
Earlier, in an interview with the Chinese political review site Guancha, Zhou Bo, a researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies and Security at Tsinghua University, said : "The West is now neglecting the so-called justice, neutrality and balance. At the conference (in Munich. — InoSMI) the moods and positions of Western countries completely dominated and what other states thought was ignored."
Such an attitude to the opinion of the largest countries of the East categorically does not suit either China, Russia, or even India, which the West is trying not to annoy so far. Other states that intend to make the world truly multipolar, such as Iran and South Africa, are joining the increasingly clear anti-Western alliance. One of the main common features of potential participants in the new bloc is the sad experience of personal acquaintance with Western versions of democracy and order. Now they are all ready to demonstrate their own view of these concepts.
Anton Trofimov
