Foreign Affairs
Related: About this forumRussia and China Unveil a Pact Against America and the West
In their matching mauve ties, Russias Vladimir Putin and Chinas Xi Jinping last week declared a new era in the global order and, at least in the short term, endorsed their respective territorial ambitions in Ukraine and Taiwan. The worlds two most powerful autocrats unveiled a sweeping long-term agreement that also challenges the United States as a global power, nato as a cornerstone of international security, and liberal democracy as a model for the world. Friendship between the two States has no limits, they vowed in the communiqué, released after the two leaders met on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics. There are no forbidden areas of cooperation.
Agreements between Moscow and Beijing, including the Treaty of Friendship of 2001, have traditionally been laden with lofty, if vague, rhetoric that faded into forgotten history. But the new and detailed five-thousand-word agreement is more than a collection of the usual tropes, Robert Daly, the director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, at the Wilson Center, in Washington, told me. Although it falls short of a formal alliance, like nato, the agreement reflects a more elaborate show of solidarity than anytime in the past. This is a pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder against America and the West, ideologically as well as militarily, Daly said. This statement might be looked back on as the beginning of Cold War Two. The timing and clarity of the communiquéamid tensions on Russias border with Europe and Chinas aggression around Taiwanwill give historians the kind of specific event that they often focus on.
Beyond security, the declaration also pledged collaboration on space, climate change, the Internet, and artificial intelligence. Politically, the document claimed that there is no one-size-fits-all type of democracy, and heralded both forms of authoritarian rule in Moscow and Beijing as successful democracies. Its a pretty striking step closer to an alliance and shows that theyre very much aligned in their vision of the world order in the twenty-first century, Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, told me. Putin described the broader strategic partnership with China as unprecedented. Xi said that their joint strategy would have a far-reaching influence on China, Russia, and the world.
U.S. experts described the lengthy statement, which was riddled with false and accusatory language, as startling. Ive never seen a joint statement from both leaders using this kind of language. Theyve joined forces, Angela Stent, a Russia expert who served at the National Intelligence Council and wrote Putins World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest, told me. She described the communiqué as quite Orwellian and called it an inflection point in which Russia and China are challenging the balance of power that has defined the global order since the Cold War ended, three decades ago. We could be at the beginning of a new era as the Russian relationship with the West deteriorates and Chinas does as well. The agreement puts Washington and its key allies in a terrible bind, she added. The fact is, whatever we do to counter what Russia is doing only reinforces its reliance on China.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/russia-and-china-unveil-a-pact-against-america-and-the-west
Bayard
(22,005 posts)This statement might be looked back on as the beginning of Cold War Two. And we better hope it remains a cold war.
Ive never seen a joint statement from both leaders using this kind of language. Theyve joined forces, What are we going to do if Russia goes after Ukraine, and China goes for Taiwan, at the same time?
dchill
(38,441 posts)Wooden stakes may be in order.
Chainfire
(17,467 posts)That is the move that I have had bad dreams about.
PortTack
(32,705 posts)Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)
I_UndergroundPanther This message was self-deleted by its author.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,462 posts)Own a staggering amount of real estate here in America.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/qrius.com/china-owns-us-how-the-chinese-are-buying-up-america/amp/
Companies that seem american but are owned by china
https://www.madeinamerica.com/chinese-investors/
Chinese are buying up American farmland.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/19/china-buying-us-farms-foreign-purchase-499893
With Russia and China are close to being best buddies.. and the links I shared. This looks scary indeed.
Last thing we need is to sell our country to autocrats,while we have an autocrat problem right here .