The world-renowned Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for several days, and the global order is ushering in a new adjustment.
Looking back on the sudden outbreak of this war, which many people did not expect, to the stalemate it is now in, makes people have to think about war and peace.
Having experienced so many cruel and bloody wars throughout the ages, especially after the two horrific world wars, opposing wars and pursuing peace should become the consensus and bottom line of civilization for modern people.
As a country that has suffered from war and chaos in history, China has the civilization genes of loving peace and pursuing harmony in the world and a harmonious world. In particular, China should have a clear understanding of this.
The Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu wrote "You are not there, Qinghai head, no one has collected bones from ancient times", "The new ghosts are troubled by the old ghosts cry, the sky is cloudy and rainy and the sound is chirp", which is enough to alert anyone who cheers for the war.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, some people on the Chinese Internet applauded the war and were very excited. They regarded this as a lesson for the West and eased the pressure of the United States to contain China. They hoped that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be lenient.
This is inappropriate and does not conform to China's pursuit of morality and peace today.
It is undeniable that the Russian-Ukrainian war can indeed alleviate the increasing pressure of the United States to contain China in recent years
. , it is even more inappropriate to applaud the war.
This is why the Chinese government has repeatedly advocated peaceful negotiations to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.
I hope some people who applaud the Russian-Ukrainian war can reflect on themselves.
However, while not applauding the war, it is even more necessary to prevent the occurrence of war.
Peace is precious, desirable and worth striving for, but
the arrival of peace cannot be just by shouting anti-war slogans and writing anti-war works, but by having enough wisdom and ability to prevent war. Outbreak, good at using peaceful means to resolve disputes
.
Throughout the ages, there have been so many works and public opinions opposed to war, but why do wars continue to happen again and again?
Before human beings have achieved world harmony and established a global government, as long as the fierce competition between countries and the jungle order of the jungle still exist,
it is sad that a country fails to establish a bottom line of the value of peace, but if a country only knows It is ignorance and naivety to talk about peace without seeking the wisdom and ability to prevent war from breaking out.
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For Russia and Putin, in the face of the repeated eastward expansion of NATO, the world's most powerful military bloc left over from the Cold War, in the face of the US and NATO's long-standing disregard for Russia's security demands, in the face of a complex and profound history with Russia The Ukrainian side of the origins and grudges used the United States and NATO as a bargaining chip to stimulate Russia. In the face of the Ukrainian government, which was engulfed by populist politics, it condoned the violence of the far-right armed forces against the Russians. The Russian government led by Putin finally chose to launch a war. Attempts to force Ukraine and the US and Europe behind it to make concessions.
To a certain extent, Putin decided to launch a war against Ukraine precisely because he felt rude and security threats from the United States, NATO and Ukraine for many years, and a series of cultural and diplomatic methods he adopted were all ineffective. , In desperation, he took the risk and launched a war against Ukraine.
"Sun Tzu's Art of War: Conspiracy and Attack" states that the upper armies attack the plot, the second is to attack the Jiao, the second is to attack the soldiers, and the lower is to attack the city.
In the era of "Sun Tzu's Art of War", war was considered the last resort, not to mention that in today's era, launching a war will inevitably be tortured by morality and international public opinion, and will fall into the dilemma of being isolated and sanctioned, even if Putin originally only hoped to use war to promote talks, and tried to Reduce civilian casualties.
At present, the war launched by Putin is not only stubbornly resisted by Ukraine, but is also awakening the EU's will to resist.
Even if Russia can conquer Ukraine in the follow-up and achieve its own political intentions, the backlash of the war itself on the development of Russia will be incalculable. Whether the Russian National Games will decline in the future is not entirely imagined.
Why did Russia choose war as a last resort?
This may be related to the fighting characteristics of the Russian nation, but more importantly, over the years,
Russia has failed to find a way to resolve disputes with its strong economy, technology and soft power, so that whenever it encounters external security threats, it will When its own economy, technology and soft power are seriously insufficient, it is easy to fall into the inertia of relying on force to solve problems.
This is not only a point for Russia to reflect on deeply, to turn to the development of economy and technology as soon as possible, and to enhance its soft power, but also a key difference between China and Russia.
Thomas Loren Friedman, a senior American media person, wrote in the article "In this Ukraine crisis, the United States and NATO are not innocent" published on the Chinese website of the New York Times: "Countries and national leaders have The response to humiliation is usually one of two: aggression or introspection.
After experiencing the so-called "hundred years of national humiliation" brought by the West, China's response under Deng Xiaoping can be roughly described as follows: "We must do Show you. We’re going to beat you at your own game.’ When Putin felt humiliated by the West after the collapse of the Soviet Union and NATO expansion, his response was: ‘I’m going to show you. I’m going to beat Ukraine.
’”
Just as he said, since Deng Xiaoping started reform and opening up, China has embarked on a path that is different from both the Soviet Union and Western neoliberalism, focusing on the development of economy and technology for 40 years, thus winning China the world's second largest economy. economy and the status of the largest industrial country.
Facing the lessons of Russia's handling of the Ukrainian crisis, China should continue to focus on the development of economy and technology, and gradually improve its soft power. When there is an external security threat, there is enough power to make the other side choose to settle disputes with China in a peaceful way.
For Ukraine and its political elites, it is clear that they have a good card in hand, but they are playing poorly.
Ukraine not only has vast and fertile black land, and has the title of "European granary", but also is the second largest inheritor of the superpower after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, second only to Russia, with strong industrial strength and nuclear weapons. A nuclear power, the Black Sea Shipyard in its territory used to be the main shipyard of the Soviet Navy and was capable of building aircraft carriers. At the same time, the overall living standard of the people was much higher than that of China.
Ukraine 30 years ago was an influential European power.
If Ukraine at that time kept its family and developed its economy and technology, why would the people suffer from war?
However, in just 30 years, with China's continuous rapid development and miracles, per capita GDP is about to cross the threshold of a high-level country. Ukraine, which is engulfed by the populism of electoral democracy, the elites are incompetent to govern the country, the ethnic groups are severely divided, the people's lives are hard, and they are reduced to The poorest country in Europe, with a GDP of just over US$150 billion in 2020, is not as good as Foshan, a prefecture-level city in China.
In 1994, the Ukrainian government unilaterally believed in the security commitments of the West and Russia, and signed a treaty with the United States, Britain and Russia to destroy nuclear weapons.
How naive and self-destructing the Great Wall is this, to put the safety of tens of millions of people in this country on a paper promise from the West and Russia.
Later, the Ukrainian government ignored the geopolitical risks of the game between the United States and Russia, deviated from the principle of pragmatic diplomacy, and believed that it had commitments from the United States and Europe.
Whether it is Mencius's saying, "Only the wise are able to make small things big", or Han Feizi's warning, "A country is small but not humble, a person who has little power is not afraid of the strong, who is rude and insults his big neighbor, and who is greedy and makes poor friends. It will also perish”, “Those who rely on the aid of their neighbors to avoid their neighbors, and who are rescued by powerful parents and insult the country they are forced to perish may perish”, or Henry Kissinger’s advice “If Ukraine is to survive and develop, it should not become An outpost on one side against the other - and should be a bridge between the two", all foreshadowing the tragedy of war in Ukraine today.
As long as Ukraine has a group of politicians who are both wise and responsible, or has a relatively healthy political system, it will not be reduced to this.
Ukraine’s political elites have really misled the country and the people, and Ukraine’s populism and division are to blame.