How and why Xi’s China rethought friendship with Russia
The friendship between China and Russia is no longer "limitless", but "lasting" and "traditional". Here's what's behind the change in terms. The deepening of Lorenzo Lamperti
«I know that Russia will hold presidential elections next year. Under his strong leadership, Russia has made great strides in its prosperous development. I am sure that the Russian people will continue to give you their firm support."
XI JINPING WORDS AND TERMS
Among the words spoken by Xi Jinping on his first day of visit to Moscow , they are perhaps the most revealing. The message is clear: «You have to deal with Vladimir Putin». Indirect response to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court and to those who used it to criticize the trip of the Chinese president, who clarified the outlines of the report in his article published in the Russian press.
Friendship is no longer "limitless" but "lasting" and "traditional", hand-in-hand with "the close working relationship" with Putin. Nuances necessary to include relations in the foreign policy of the "new era" (a formula not by chance also used by the Russian side) branded Xi.
THE FOREIGN POLICY OF CHINA
Bilateral dimension: non-alliance, non-hostility towards third parties, win-win cooperation. Global dimension: "true" multilateralism, holistic conception of security and shared destiny. They are the basis of the Chinese rhetoric on the Belt and Road and the Global Security Initiative, according to which China's security depends on global security and global security depends on China's. An axiom that also applies to Russia or North Korea, ie the countries that Beijing (while reiterating its desire to maintain an "objective and impartial" position on the war) does not see as perpetrators but as victims of "hegemony, domination and bullying". The reference to the United States this time is implicit, but remains evident.
“GLOBAL CIVILIZATION”
Also because last week the Chinese initiatives were joined by that of "global civilization", which, as Xi explains, establishes that "there is no country superior to the others, no model of government is universal". In essence: modernization does not mean westernization. A posture that once again reveals China's ambition to be a point of reference for the so-called "global South". It did so by favoring the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but also by projecting itself into Latin America, which is giving Beijing a lot of satisfaction between the forthcoming visit of Brazilian President Lula and the decision by Honduras to start official diplomatic relations to the detriment of Taipei.
(Extract from Asia Files , Lorenzo Lamperti's newsletter on China and East Asia. Sign up here )
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/cina-russia-amicizia/ on Sat, 25 Mar 2023 06:09:56 +0000.