中文
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, in Moscow, Russia, February 22, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
By Andrew Korybko
Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Wang Yi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday. This was a remarkable development for multiple reasons. It shows how important Putin regarded the timing of Wang's trip and ties with China in general.
Their meeting took place ahead of the first anniversary of the launch of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, which Moscow claims was to defend the integrity of its national security red lines after NATO clandestinely crossed them.
In this regard, China practices a pragmatic policy of principled neutrality towards the Ukraine crisis, whereby it doesn't officially support either side. Instead, it's focused solely on facilitating a peaceful political resolution. Nevertheless, the U.S.-led West has spewed disinformation over the past year, such as falsely alleging that China is arming Russia. These weaponized information and warfare narratives are intended to discredit its neutral position and fearmonger about its intentions.
The other context in which Wang's trip took place concerns the U.S.'s continued unilateral worsening of ties with China, particularly after this month's weather balloon incident. Some observers say that the U.S. is attempting to replicate its "containment" of Russia in Europe against China in Asia, which is extremely worrisome due to the military dimension relating to AUKUS and especially Japan's declared remilitarization.
Considering the dual contexts of what can at this point be described as the Russia-U.S. proxy war in Ukraine as well as the U.S.'s continued efforts to militarily "contain" China in Asia, Wang's meeting with Putin came at a crucial moment for international relations. The U.S. is aggressively attempting to delay the inevitable decline of its unipolar hegemony at the expense of Russia and China's national security interests, the efforts of which are destabilizing the world.
These strategic dynamics, which also concern economic, financial, information, military, political and technological trends, therefore imbue the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era with unprecedented importance, since it serves as a bastion of stability amidst U.S.-orchestrated chaos across the world. It was thus fitting that Putin found time out of his busy day near the anniversary of his country's military campaign in Ukraine to meet with Wang to discuss closer cooperation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee Wang Yi in Moscow, Russia, February 22, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]
With a view to that end, observers can expect them to continue their trajectory of comprehensively expanding ties across all domains, particularly in the economic, financial and military ones. These will likely take the form of more energy deals as well as other ones for further enhancing their real-sector economic cooperation, the greater use of national currencies in the aforesaid, and more joint drills that aren't directed against any third party but only intend to deter aggression and improve interoperability.
At the global level, China and Russia are predicted to expand their political coordination at the United Nations with respect to jointly opposing U.S. aggression in all its forms, including its false claims about them as well as its illegal sanctions. They won't allow the declining unipolar hegemon to manipulate international law in advance of its "rules-based order," which is a euphemism for the arbitrary implementation of double standards aimed at advancing the U.S.'s interests at everyone else's expense.
The China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era is no longer purely of bilateral importance since it now takes on a global significance due to the related context in which it's continuing to expand as explained. What originally began as a partnership between two major countries has since evolved into a Eurasia-wide one through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's founding in 2001, then a partnership across the Global South via BRICS' founding in 2009, and now a truly global one due to the conditions this year.
Accordingly, the rest of the international community can clearly see the contrast between how the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for a new era responsibly addresses current challenges across the world in line with international law, and the polar-opposite way in which the U.S.'s does so. The first-mentioned is focused on accelerating the global systemic transition to multi-polarity through a myriad of means, including equal partnerships with others, while the second aggressively wants to delay this process.
The historic moment in which Wang met with Putin to discuss the development of China-Russia relations is therefore unparalleled. There should thus be no doubt that these two major countries are leading the global systemic transition to multi-polarity due to their shared desire to restore democracy, equality, justice, predictability and stability to international relations. Humanity is poised to improve for the better as a result of their efforts, which is inevitable and can't be stopped by the U.S.
The author is a Moscow-based American political analyst.
