"Non-alignment, no confrontation, and no targeting of third parties" Foreign Minister Qin Gang positions China-Russia relations

The foreign ministers of China and Russia had the first phone call on January 9. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s words were quite meaningful, “Sino-Russian relations are based on non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of third parties. The important consensus reached by the heads of state has continuously pushed China-Russia relations forward.”

On September 15, 2022, then-Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang visited St. Louis on the banks of the Mississippi River in Missouri to attend the commemoration of the 43rd anniversary of the St. Louis-Nanjing sister city and kick off the home game of the local baseball team the Cardinals.

(Website of the Chinese Embassy in the United States)

From the Chinese Foreign Minister's statement two years ago when talking about Sino-Russian relations that "China-Russia strategic cooperation has no end, no restricted areas, and no upper limit", to Qin Gang's supplementary remarks on Sino-Russian bilateral relations after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukraine War when he was the ambassador to the United States." There is no restricted area for China-Russia cooperation, but there is a bottom line. This bottom line is the purpose and principles established by the UN Charter, which is recognized as the basic norm of international law and international relations.

"Further to the new expression of "three nos" introduced this year, this change is so obvious that people can feel it even if they don't use it in detail.

Sino-Russian relations are still important, and will continue to move forward. In the process of a new Cold War and the violent collision of the geopolitical plates between the East and the West, the strategic importance of Sino-Russian relations to each other is still beyond doubt.

But at the same time, the nature and boundaries of Sino-Russian relations have become increasingly clear. China does not engage in political or military alliances with any country, does not engage in group confrontation, does not support war conflicts, and has no intention of breaking and confronting the West. more and more determined.

Since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, there have been two forces in the international arena pulling each other around China.

One side is dominated by Russia, and it is hoped that China will lean towards Russia and provide Russia with comprehensive support, not only at the international political and strategic level, but also in the economic and military fields.

In particular, the Russian army was repeatedly defeated on the front line and was forced to switch from an all-out offensive to a focused offensive, and then to a strategic defense. With the deepening impact of Western sanctions and the exposure of Russia's shortcomings in weapons and military technology, in order to ease the transition from political to military With the huge pressure on the economy and the frontline battlefields, Russia is eager to hope that China can form a strategic bond with Russia and jointly fight against the United States and Europe.

For this reason, Russia also deliberately revealed some fragments of the meeting content that should not have been made public when the Chinese guests visited Russia, in order to create an illusion that China is willing to input war energy for Russia and engage in bloc confrontation with the West.

Ukrainian soldiers inspect multiple missiles abandoned by Russian troops as they retreated after the latest fighting.

(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The other side is dominated by the United States, especially the right-wing neo-conservative forces in the United States who advocate decoupling from China and fighting a new cold war or even a hot war with China.

They hope to use the Russia-Ukraine war as an opportunity to bundle China and Russia, cut off the economic, trade and political ties between Europe, the United States and China, promote the formation of a new Cold War pattern in the world, and block the rise and revival of China.

To some extent, they even achieved part of their goals. For example, at the beginning of the war, the strategic suspicion between China, the United States and China and Europe deepened, and the relationship between Europe, the United States and China became more tense than before.

The starting point of these two forces is different. The starting point of Russia is to bind China strategically, to deceive China into sacrificing economic, trade and political ties with Europe, the United States and other countries, at the expense of its own interests, to make money out of the fire for Russia’s interests; the starting point of the American right-wing conservative forces It is to bundle China and Russia to promote the formation of a new Cold War pattern in the world. While consuming Russia militarily, it cuts off all ties with China and blocks the development and rise of China, the most important strategic competitor.

However, for China, the results are the same, both are unbearable for China, and neither are in China's national interest.

Similar to the ideas of these two forces in the world, in China, especially in the field of online public opinion, there are also two voices that are seriously torn apart from each other.

One voice regards the United States as China’s main enemy, and believes that China and Russia should be strategically bound together to confront the United States and Europe, and even directly intervene in the Ukraine war. At least they should clearly show their support for Russia in this war and provide Russia with Political, economic and military weapons support.

Another voice believes that Russia is the most dangerous enemy to China in the long run. It has not only encroached on China’s territory of more than one million square kilometers, supported Mongolia’s independence, but also violated the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Therefore, China should join The mainstream camp of the country condemns Russia for launching this war of aggression.

Russian military vehicles drive on a highway controlled by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine.

(AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov, File)

Within a few months of the start of the war, both voices were dissatisfied with China's stance on the war. The former believed that China's support for Russia was not enough, and the latter believed that China had lost the long-standing basic value principles of international relations.

But frankly speaking, these two voices are extreme, and to some extent even stupid, because they both underestimate the complex reality of international politics, fail to realize the significance of maintaining strategic balance in a turbulent situation, and are too idealistic up.

In fact, China has always maintained an appropriate distance from this war with great rationality and calmness.

China has not leaned towards Russia, sacrificing its relations with the United States and Europe and other Western countries and its own development interests. Instead, while continuing to maintain a strategic partnership with Russia, China has constantly adjusted its relationship with the United States and Europe according to changes in the international situation and its own needs. .

China also did not join the Western camp that condemned Russia and sacrificed its relationship with Russia. Instead, it used the geospace created by the war as an opportunity to expand its interests in Central Asia and the Far East, and recently began to adjust its relations with the United States and Europe.

Today, an obvious trend is that Sino-Russian relations are still stable, Sino-US relations have begun to recover partially, and Sino-European relations have gradually returned to the pre-war normal.

Russia's international status and national strength have further declined due to the war, while China's international status and influence have been further consolidated and enhanced.

Many people know the performance of the United States in World War I and World War II, but the history of how the United States kept a distance from the two world wars, maintained a strategic balance in an environment of confrontation between major powers, and took the opportunity to consolidate its position and enhance its national strength and international influence is not clear. Little is known.

Today, similar history is repeating itself. With great rationality and calmness, China demonstrated extremely superb strategic balance ability and historical learning ability in the Russia-Ukraine War, but many people are ignorant and ignorant.

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