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01Editorial|China and Russia conspire against the international order to force and false benevolence will eventually pass

2022-09-18T00:13:13.735Z


The importance of President Xi Jinping's attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the ancient city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan is his first foreign visit since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. Especially on Thursday (15th) he was more with


The importance of President Xi Jinping's attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the ancient city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan is his first foreign visit since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic.

In particular, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (15th). The two not only highly praised and affirmed the key role of Sino-Russian cooperation in stabilizing the security and prosperity of the world and the region, but also mentioned Taiwan and Ukraine. This is a core interest issue that China and Russia are concerned about.


Both sides expressed reservations on the Taiwan and Ukraine issues.

China avoided talking about its position on the Ukraine issue in the press release, while the Taiwan issue has always been China's internal affair, and Russia can only support and condemn the United States for provoking trouble in the Taiwan Strait.

But it does represent that the cooperation between China and Russia is developing to a new height, and has become a new force for integrating the regional and international order.

The picture shows Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev attend the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16, 2022. The three joined others Participants, walk into the venue together.

Post-Cold War arrogance is heady

China's strength is unquestionable, but some people may think that Russia is not very important, and even if China and Russia cooperate, it will not have much impact on the international situation.

Russia's economy is indeed underdeveloped. In 2021, its GDP will rank among the top ten in the world, even less than that of South Korea, which is a small country.

This year, it was sanctioned by the West because of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and its GDP is more likely to lose to countries such as Brazil and Australia.

Even in the military, many people believe that Russia’s performance on the Ukrainian battlefield has lost its status as a military power, especially shortly before the SCO summit, Ukraine regained a large area of ​​Kharkiv from the Russian army.

Therefore, the mainstream public opinion in the West has always shown contempt for Russia.

However, underestimating Russia is fatally dangerous.

Russia has huge energy and natural resources, and has a pivotal influence on the global economy and industry.

According to 2020 data, Russia's oil production accounts for 12.3% of the world's oil production, while natural gas production is as high as 18%.

Moreover, since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia's energy exports have not fallen but have risen. According to the document of the Russian Ministry of Economy, its energy exports in 2022 will increase by 38% compared with last year to 337.5 billion US dollars.

Energy is the mother of the economy and the anchor of prices. At this moment, the world is still very dependent on fossil energy. Russia's control of energy is enough to make it have an impact on the world beyond its economic size.

As for military power, because Ukraine has so far relied on the West to provide military and economic assistance, Russia is actually fighting against many Western countries on its own.

Moreover, Russia has still not conducted war mobilization, and has only characterized it as a "special military operation". It can be said that it has not been real at all, not to mention that Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

The Russian-Ukrainian war has greatly affected the global supply chain and has a large impact on inflation.

This is not to tout Russia's power, but since it has a pivotal position in the world economy and security, why is its voice despised on the international stage?

Western threats and sanctions have never succeeded in bringing down a nuclear power, and even the Soviet Union, inherited by Russia, was not easily defeated by the United States.

Remember that the United States established diplomatic relations with China under the guidance of Kissinger, and united China to control the Soviet Union, which effectively isolated the Soviet Union and contributed to the end of the Cold War.

What's more, even if Russia does not have such strength, it does not mean that the West can easily dismiss the needs of Russia and its people.

Although international relations focus on strength, it is not the law of the jungle, which is the law of the jungle.

Unfortunately, the past track record of the United States shows that it has not really defended the rules-based order, and has used tilted power to maintain its own advantages for many years.

In the 1980s, because of the rapid development of Japan's economy and the threat of the chip industry to the United States, the United States threatened to impose sanctions to suppress Japan.

In recent years, because of the threat from China, the United States has continuously attempted to hinder China's development with restrictions on trade and technology exports.

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the United States has gradually become accustomed to acting recklessly under unipolar hegemony. Perhaps they have been stunned by their own victories over small countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria, thinking that the international order is a private plaything.

The high level of strategic cooperation between China and Russia is therefore a blow to the United States and Europe - the world cannot be dominated by a unipolar hegemony, and the West has to face the reality that it can no longer decide all the rules of the game.

"Those who use strength and false benevolence dominate, and those who practice benevolence by virtue are king"

Many American politicians are deeply influenced by the theory of "Thucydides Trap" and believe that China's rise means replacing itself.

However, China is likely to have no interest in becoming a new hegemon. It only seeks to break the unipolar world order, and it is up to a few countries to decide if it does not agree with the international order.

The declaration of the SCO summit opposed grouping and confrontational thinking to solve international and regional problems, which shows that China's cooperation with Russia is not to create gangs, but to seek an order to end Western hegemony.

"Mencius" once said that "the one who uses strength and false benevolence will dominate", "the one who is benevolent by virtue is king".

When the West dominated the international order in the past, it brought imperialism and colonialism.

Some later believed it would be better for the United States to maintain order in "Pax America," making international relations ostensibly less contentious and punishing countries that didn't follow the rules.

However, the United States and the West have not achieved a fair judgment. The so-called "better" is only for those with vested interests, but the interests of other non-Western countries are sacrificed.

When China was weak in the past, it did not yield to the great powers. After the war, China was neither arrogant nor inferior to the United States. It could fight with all its might in the Korean War and establish diplomatic relations with the United States pragmatically.

Even though China is now stronger than before, it still emphasizes mutual respect in international relations. When dealing with small countries such as Serbia and Afghanistan, it does not pretend to be a strong country, but based on the principle of fairness.

On Ukraine, China does not support a solution by invading another country, and Xi Jinping even expressed concern to Putin.

It can be seen that although China condemns NATO's unfulfilled promises and continues to expand eastward and understands Russia's concerns about its own security, it insists on an international order in which sovereign states treat each other as equals.

The United States and NATO have waged many wars in the past to invade other countries.

(Reuters)

International governance is about convincing people with reason and virtue, and even more so in governing a country or a place.

Claiming to stick to some systems that protect vested interests in order to maintain stability, rather than changing the rules to meet the interests of a larger group of people, is just a manifestation of unipolar hegemony.

In this way, stability may be achieved, but instead of sacrificing the interests of the majority of stakeholders, it is just to convince people by force.

The vested interests may enjoy a temporary convenience, but the hypocritical stability will never last, and even lead to greater resistance to hegemony.

The society should take care of the interests of all parties through continuous consultation and not respect one party, so as to solve the problem pragmatically.

Isn't it the same with the governance of Hong Kong?

The "Hong Kong National Security Law" gives the Hong Kong government legal means to deal with extremist forces, but it cannot solve the deep-seated contradictions and other social problems in society.

To govern Hong Kong well, neither the government nor the establishment can allow vested interests to become a unipolar hegemony similar to the United States. All social strata must be able to negotiate and solve problems, reflecting the wisdom of "doing virtue and benevolence is king".

Can Xi Jinping's first foreign visit to meet Putin and the United States not be a cold war or a hot war?

China and Russia reconstruct the "heartland", the international order is not determined by the West [01 Editorial] The future of the two sides of the Strait is actually up to us [01 Editorial] This is not just a Taiwan Strait crisis

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2022-09-18

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