Russia stretched out its back to China – Newspaper Kommersant No. 228 (7190) of 12/15/2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday will hold a video summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Talks are the culmination of a diplomatic year for Moscow and Beijing as they continue to converge in response to Western containment policies. Each of the parties sees the other as a pillar in confronting challenges. For Moscow, these challenges are associated with the activity of the United States and NATO in the post-Soviet space and in Europe. Without entering into a military alliance, the Russian Federation and China prefer to create each other reliable rear, acting, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, “back to back.”
The second Russian-Chinese summit this year, like the previous one held on June 28, will be held in the format of a video conference. Six months ago, the dialogue between the two leaders was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Russian-Chinese Treaty on Good Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation. Now Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will draw a line under the achievements of recent months and try to look into the future. “The results of joint work on the development of a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2021 will be summed up and the priorities for cooperation for the future will be determined,” the Kremlin press service said, pointing out that “it is also planned to exchange views on topical global and regional issues.”
The coronavirus pandemic has made serious adjustments to the format of external contacts between Russia and China. Over the past two years, Xi Jinping has never left the country, and Vladimir Putin has made only two foreign visits. In June of this year, the Russian president visited Geneva to meet with US President Joe Biden, and on December 6 he made a one-day visit to Delhi. After his return, on December 7, Vladimir Putin held a summit this year with President Biden – this time in the format of a video conference, which made it possible to somewhat revive the dialogue between Moscow and Washington on Ukraine and strategic security, and also gave rise to cautious hopes for the beginning of de-escalation in Russian relations and the West.
In turn, the pause in the US-China high-level dialogue after the change of the US administration turned out to be unprecedentedly long. The first and only three and a half hour videoconference summit between President Biden and President Xi took place only on November 16. At the same time, earlier Xi Jinping refused the proposal of the American president to hold a face-to-face summit in order to break the deadlock in relations. Unlike Vladimir Putin, the PRC leader has decided not to personally meet with Joe Biden for now.
Washington and Beijing have failed to ease tensions. On the eve of the summit of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made it clear in Jakarta, again: the maximum program in relations with Beijing is to make strategic rivalry with it manageable. “Biden told Chairman Xi that we share a deep responsibility for the presidency between our countries did not escalate into conflict. Diplomacy will continue to be our software to minimize the potential for conflict in the region, ”said Anthony Blinken. At the same time, he reaffirmed the determination of “freedom of freedom in the South China Sea” and called AUKUS “a shining example of how to promote strategic interests and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Secretary of State Blinken’s remarks sparked a backlash from Beijing. As Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
In a situation where both countries are experiencing a crisis in relations with the West, Russia and China are actively rapprochement. Speaking on November 18 at the expanded collegium of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Vladimir Putin assessed the level of Russian-Chinese interaction as follows: “Now bilateral relations have reached the highest level in history and are in the nature of a comprehensive strategic partnership. Say, use the model of interstate research in the 21st century. Of course, not everyone likes it. Some Western partners are openly trying to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. “
In turn, the Chinese side throughout the year confirming their unique character with Russia. In January, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “There is no end point in Sino-Russian strategic cooperation, no restricted areas, no upper limit.” Six months later, at a reception in Beijing in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Russian-Chinese Neighborliness Treaty, the same Mr. Wang Yi promoted “not allied relations, but better than allied relations of comprehensive strategic partnership.” And finally, on the eve of the summit of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said: “We hope that the upcoming summit will further strengthen trust between the two countries, bringing it to a new level. back to back. “
The most notable rapprochement between Russia and China is in the area of military cooperation. So, in October, the naval forces of the PRC conducted joint maneuvers with the Russian navy in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. Then five Chinese and five Russian ships for the first time passed through the Tsugaru Strait, separating the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. In the region of the Izu archipelago, one of the Chinese ships and one Russian ship took to the air by helicopter, in response, fighters of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces were raised on alert. And on November 19, the planes of the strategic aviation of Russia and the long-range aviation of the PRC conducted joint patrols over the waters of the Japan and East China Seas.
“From the previous format of a non-binding“ strategic partnership ”, Russia and China, under pressure from the West, are moving towards a new stage of cooperation – a de facto military alliance, which, however, has not received international legal formalization,” the chief researcher of the institute told Kommersant USA and Canada RAS Vladimir Batyuk. In its evolution, military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing was predetermined by two key factors – efforts to bring NATO infrastructure closer to Russia’s western border and building an anti-Chinese cordon sanitaire on the southern and eastern borders of the PRC.
According to experts interviewed by Kommersant, in this situation, the December 15 summit will be the culmination of a diplomatic year for Moscow and Beijing, which continue to converge in response to the US containment policy. “In 2021, the parties have significantly strengthened political, military and economic cooperation. At the same time, tensions grew in Eastern Europe and East Asia. And each of the parties separately conducted its own complex dialogue with the United States. Over the course of months, this dialogue has been ongoing in the framework of the latest successful research in Russia than in China. strive to keep each other informed of their dialogue with the Americans. Despite the long way to build confidence, doubts about each other’s positions in the context of the new confrontation between the great powers will persist for a long time. “
“The indicators of bilateral trade are increasing in an encouraging backdrop for the summit of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping,” continued Deputy Director of IMEMO RAN Alexander Lomanov. “Over the past 11 months, it has grown by 34% and amounted to $ 130.4 billion. This is an absolute record. However, one cannot fail to notice that the volumes of bilateral investment flows remain insufficient, which indicates a lack of mutual trust between economic elites. ” Commenting on Wang Wenbin’s “strategic partnership between the two countries, in which they stand back to back,” Mr. Lomanov notes: “This comes from martial arts. Each of them realizes that she is fighting off her opponents: Russia – in the western direction, China – in the Indo-Pacific region. It is fundamentally important that, standing back to back, Russia and China cover each other’s rear. “
“In an effort to describe the level between Moscow and Beijing, many try to confine themselves to the statement that they are“ on the rise ”and“ better than ever. ” This greatly simplifies the situation. The expert continued: “China suddenly found itself surrounded by a mass of conflicts. Including the growing tension with India, the insoluble situation around the islands of the South China Sea, the conflict with Japan and, most importantly, the explosive situation in the Taiwan Strait. ” According to Mr. Maslov, the Russian situation is much less conflict-ridden and is controlled to a greater extent by Russia itself. Therefore, not only China is the most important trading partner of Russia, but, above all, Russia is an exceptionally reliable partner for China. “Of course, economic interaction with China, which occupies almost 19% of world GDP, and with its share of 3.1%, cannot be simple, but the country has a positive modus vivendi for the next decade,” the expert summed up.