The West has increased pressure on China as Russia’s main rearguard in the war with the West in Ukraine. Will Xi Jinping maintain or fall into opportunistic cooperation with the United States? Pravda.Ru columnist Lyubov Stepushova analyzes this topic.
At the UN Security Council meeting on November 18, US ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield He asked China “not to incite war again” on the European continent. He also demanded to stop supporting Russia’s military actions by supplying dual-use goods and “repeat the Russian theses that justify the war.”
“Because there are no excuses” – said Thomas-Greenfield claiming to be right.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer In a meeting with the President of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, within the framework of the G-20, instead of addressing the economic agenda, he also arrogantly criticized the CCP’s policies on human rights.
“The United Kingdom will act in a stable and consistent manner, make decisions independently in accordance with its interests and values, without being influenced or controlled by other countries, and firmly adhere to and defend the principles of the rule of law.” Starmer said.
This series of meaningless words infuriated Xi so much that he ordered his security to remove the British journalists from the room right during Starmer’s speech. The West’s latest effort in this regard was to pressure China to obstruct the development of relations between Russia and the DPRK. But Beijing also rejected it.
As soon as donald trump will be sworn in in January and become president of the United States, pressure on Beijing will increase. Trump has threatened to impose import tariffs on Chinese goods of at least 60%. Of course, this will hurt China’s export economy, but Americans will also see very different prices in stores.
Xi’s response, as can be judged from the experience of Trump’s first term, will be similar, and not only that. It will be enough to shout on social media that we do not buy this or that brand of the American imperialists, and no one in China will buy. China could also tighten rules for issuing permits, security checks and licensing to American companies. Not to mention direct sanctions, which are already being done.
Another harsh response would be to stop buying American agricultural products like soybeans, which would hit rural America hard, where Trump enjoys strong support. Furthermore, Beijing has many alternatives to import the same soybeans: Brazil, for example.
The United States has enormous problems in the economy, particularly in employment, and Trump is not interested in making them worse.
The United States cannot compete with China on the price of goods or with Russia on the price of resources. You will not be satisfied with paper money on the stock market and sanctions are a dead end. October was a record month for trade between China and Russia. It seems that the payment problem is a thing of the past: since August there has been a constant increase in the volume of imports, according to data from Chinese customs.
Therefore, fears that China will refuse to support the Russian Federation for fear of losing in the economic war with the United States are unfounded. Beijing is building relations with Russia on the basis of long-term plans for the construction of Greater Eurasia, and not on the short-term benefits of exchanging “negotiations” with the United States.
China understands that Russia is its largest land neighbor, a global economy, a nuclear power with experience in modern warfare (no one has written off Taiwan). This is something that requires a long-term line and unchanged position, and opportunistic approaches will lead Beijing to strategic defeat.
