Photo: Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping meeting in Beijing. Credit: @KremlinRussia_E
On Feb. 5, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin for a high-profile summit in Beijing. The two presidents pledged their support for one another, forming an agreement on several fronts and issuing a joint statement on their nations’ shared values on international affairs. Reaffirming the countries’ unity in the face of escalating pressure, the statement is highly critical of western aggression on the global stage and comes amid the crisis over Ukraine.
The timing of the meeting further symbolized China and Russia’s joint opposition to the U.S.-dominated world order, occurring shortly before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics — which the United States is staging a “diplomatic boycott” against.
The statement explicitly condemns the United States for endangering the international community with actions such as withdrawing from nuclear non-proliferation treaties and refusing to relinquish chemical weapons. The two powers identified Washington as the world’s major destabilizing force in global security. They criticized the recent anti-China “AUKUS” security pact between the governments of Australia, the UK, and the United States by arguing that the alliance greatly increases the chances of a new arms race.
Main points of criticism included the U.S posture towards Ukraine and Taiwan. During the meeting, President Xi fully backed Russia’s position on Ukraine, agreeing that the crisis is a result of NATO’s constant expansion in the direction of Russia’s borders. President Putin reaffirmed support for the One-China principle, confirming that Taiwan is inseparable from the rest of China in opposition to growing U.S. support for “Taiwan independence” forces.
More broadly, the statement calls for “the establishment of a new kind of relationship between world powers on the basis of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and mutually beneficial cooperation … [Russia and China] reiterate the need for consolidation, not division of the international community, the need for cooperation, not confrontation. The sides oppose the return of international relations to the state of confrontation between major powers, when the weak fall prey to the strong.”
This meeting and statement registers a new phase of heightened unity in the fight against U.S. control of the globe. Russia and China have sent a message that they will oppose together U.S. meddling in the affairs of other nations. The meeting also solidified new gas and oil supply agreements between China and Russia, moving away from the reliance on western energy sources and weakening U.S. corporations’ economic grip.
The statement goes into detail about its vision for a “multipolar” future where no one country dominates: “[China and Russia] call on the international community to take practical steps in key areas of cooperation such as poverty reduction, food security, vaccines and epidemics control, financing for development, climate change, sustainable development,” and more. Details on these recommendations can be found within the statement, with themes of global cooperation, non-aggression, and the reduction of inequality.
China and Russia note that the U.S. government’s domination of international affairs is “hampering the development and progress of mankind.” This is true for the vast majority of people inside the United States as well. The U.S. government prevents the world from tackling the climate change crisis, wastes trillions of dollars on weapons of war, sends U.S. working-class youth to fight and die in those wars, and commits unspeakable human rights violations at home. There is no reason to fear the growing unity of China and Russia, or the declining power of the U.S. empire.
