Geopolitical alliances under the leadership of the United States constantly force other countries to adopt their "norms and rules," the SCMP newspaper quotes Vladimir Putin as saying. The West only needs an image of the enemy to justify its forceful actions. Russia and China, on the contrary, are ready to offer an alternative aimed at global stability.
China and Russia are "important factors" for ensuring global stability, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, promising to further strengthen security and economic cooperation with Beijing in the face of a confrontational and "blocky" Western order.
In his speech at the international forum in Sochi on Thursday, October 5, Putin said that Russian-Chinese cooperation is aimed at the benefit of the whole world, and the Western alliances led by the United States always force other countries to accept their "norms and rules."
"They are trying to mold the image of the enemy from everyone who is not ready to blindly follow these Western elites," including from China and Russia, as Putin said during the annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, which this year is taking place in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.
"The West always needs an enemy, the fight against which can explain the need for forceful actions and expansion."
According to Putin, the policy of the United States towards China is based on "geopolitical fears" about the growing power of Beijing. The Russian leader warned that the "bloc" approach of the West, aimed at preserving hegemony, threatens global peace, while Russia and China seek to work for the benefit of all mankind.
"Today, cooperation between Russia and the People's Republic of China is certainly a very important factor stabilizing international life," he said.
"It has a creative beginning and is aimed exclusively at achieving a positive result both for us — Russia and China — and for our partners around the world."
Putin added that Russia will strengthen cooperation with China in the field of security in response to NATO expansion — it is taking place, including "in the Asia-Pacific region and South Asia" — which provoked the Ukrainian crisis, because "NATO expansion directly to our borders threatens our security."
"We see that one of the ways to provoke and create a crisis in Ukraine was the irrepressible desire of Western countries, and above all the United States, to expand NATO to the borders of the Russian Federation. They are doing the same in the East, creating various closed military groups."
The Russian leader made these comments on the eve of his planned visit to Beijing in October, where he will take part in the third international forum "One Belt, One Road" and meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Xi invited Putin to come to the forum during his visit to Moscow, which took place in March and during which the parties once again announced the strengthening of the Russian-Chinese partnership.
The trip to Beijing will be the first visit of the Russian leader to China since Moscow launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
It will also be Putin's first known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of war crimes in March. (Moscow denies these accusations.)
It is expected that representatives of more than 130 countries, mainly developing economies, will take part in the "One Belt, One Road" forum, as China intensifies its attempts to offer the world an alternative to the global system dominated by the West, continuing to position its landmark initiative in the field of infrastructure and development as a model for connecting Asia with the rest the world.
In his keynote speech at the forum in Sochi, Putin once again denied accusations that Russia is deliberately delaying the military conflict in Ukraine, which has been going on for the 20th month.
The losses of the Ukrainian and Russian armed forces have already approached half a million people, as American officials reported in August. In September, the UN reported that at least 9.7 thousand civilians were killed during the conflict. Kiev reported that on Thursday, as a result of a missile strike in the northeast of Ukraine, about fifty civilians were killed.
Putin said that the conflict will last no more than a week if the West stops providing military and financial assistance to Ukraine. Now further assistance to Kiev is really under threat due to the growing disagreements within the US Congress, as a result of which on Thursday the Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy (Kevin McCarthy) lost his post.
"We are not creating any blocs against anyone, but we are forced to react to what is happening around our states," Putin stressed.
Recent attempts by NATO to establish a liaison office in Japan, which is an ally of the United States under the treaty, provoked strong protests from China, which accused the alliance of undermining the security of the region.
Washington's focus on strengthening Asia-Pacific alliances in an effort to counter Beijing in the South China and East China Seas and Taiwan is also often cited as an example of NATO's expansion eastward.
Putin said that Russia and China will also strengthen economic ties, primarily through infrastructure projects.
According to the Russian leader, they are striving to create new logistics routes and projects that will help to connect the Chinese initiative "One Belt, One Road" and infrastructure networks within the Eurasian Economic Union, an international organization that includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia in addition to Russia.
Putin positively assessed the recent decision to expand the BRICS alliance of developing countries, which is increasingly seen as a counterweight to the Western—led "Big Seven" bloc.
"[The expansion of the BRICS] is very important, it indicates the growth of authority and, most importantly, the desire to join such a format that does not oblige anyone to anything, does not impose anything on anyone, but simply creates conditions for finding compromises and resolving issues in which all participating countries are interested", — said Putin.
"We are happy about this, we believe that this is a positive process," he added.
Author of the article: Kawala Xi (Kawala Xie)
