The China-Russia axis is strengthening and has an absolute goal

The last time the Russian President visited China was almost a month before he decided to invade Ukraine. Then the leaders of the two countries had established a friendship “without limits” between the two countries.

Two years later, many of the then geopolitical and geoeconomic facts have changed. But their “friendship” turned out to be extremely crucial and the Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping they are constantly deepening their relationship for their primary political goal: To break US dominance.

THE war in Ukraine and its competition China with the USA they have brought the two states closer to an alliance that in effect is gradually forging the polar opposite in the Western alliance and Washington’s hegemony.

And that partnership was confirmed Wednesday in Beijing on the sidelines of the initiative’s 10th anniversary forum “One Belt, One Road”, of the strategic plan to strengthen China’s influence in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern and Southern Europe, through economic cooperation and infrastructure. It is essentially about the new “silk road”.

Xi called Putin a “dear and old friend” clarifying how “China supports Russia’s security and development interests». Moscow and Beijing have strengthened their coordination at multiple levels and their unbreakable relationship has alarmed the US, Europe and the rest of the Western bloc.

For her Russia having the world’s second-largest power on its side is an invaluable asset, even if its dependence on Beijing has grown significantly. Their financial cooperation, as well the ties that have developed through the BRICS bloc (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), have been instrumental in significantly limiting the impact of sanctions imposed by the West.

On the other hand, for China, the war in Ukraine may have been painful – it is estimated that close to 1% of the country’s GDP was lost due to the economic chaos it caused – but the benefits of cooperation with Russia are very important. And they can get even bigger in the long run.

In arms…

Military cooperation is steadily and actively promoted by Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a forum for political, economic and defense cooperation, the expansion of which is a key pursuit of Beijing while makes a significant shift towards its military strengthening. In terms of geographical area and population the SCO is the largest regional organization, including 60% of the area of ​​Eurasia, 40% of the world’s population and more than 30% of world GDP.

A formal bilateral military alliance does not currently exist, but there should be no doubt that some heated fronts, such as China’s conflict with the US over Taiwan, could immediately trigger joint military action.

Collaboration for billions of… reasons

Chinese products are increasingly replacing those of the West on Russian territory. China’s exports to Russia have soared recording a 57% increase for this year alone. The yuan, the Chinese currency that tries to challenge the omnipotence of the dollar, accounted for almost half the value of all foreign exchange transactions in Moscow. In January 2022, shortly before the invasion of Ukraine, the corresponding percentage was only 0.4%.

In 2022, Sino-Russian trade reached a record level of $190 billion, a 30% increase compared to the year before the war. In 2023, this number is likely to be significantly higher, already reaching $155 billion in the first eight months alone. If this trend continues, the volume could reach $230 billion by the end of the year.

Alongside China benefits from cheap Russian energy. It has emerged as the largest importer enjoying huge discounts, which by 2026 are estimated at up to 44%. Coal shipments have more than doubled since 2020, while in August Moscow supplied China with 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. This is an amount higher than that provided by Saudi Arabia and a 26% increase from last year.

Russia is also steadily increasing its natural gas supply to Chinese territory, with imports increasing by 54%. And Moscow intends to expand the volume of supply. In this context, the big project being promoted foresees the construction of a second natural gas pipeline from Siberia. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, during their meeting, discussed the progress in this project. Alternatively, Russia is also considering the promotion of liquefied natural gas with Chinese companies having the necessary facilities.

“Strategic Choice”

The above demonstrates that the West should not fall into the trap of evaluating Sino-Russian relations only through the prism of the war in Ukraine. An axis of two very powerful neighbors sharing a common border of more than 4,000 kilometers is undoubtedly taking shape. When Xi visited Moscow in March he underlined how deepening ties with Russia was and remains a “strategic choice”.

The cooperation between China and Russia has been steadily building – with different intensities – for decades and today constitutes foundation stone in their plan to shape a new global landscape against what they recognize as a common threat: the US-led Western front.

Both countries recognize that in order to achieve their goal, they should not only coordinate in multilateral institutions, such as the UN Security Council, in order to block the agenda promoted by the US, but it is also imperative to strengthen the institutions that themselves created, as the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organizationto expand their influence in the developing world.

In this way they form a network of influence that connects strategically important countries to both powers. For example recently received an invitation to join the BRICS states such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Egypt and Argentina. Dozens more countries have expressed interest to join the BRICS, among them the Turkey.

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agree that the support from global south is the key to knocking down US hegemony. And the crises that are triggered in critical regional zones around the world, such as the Israel-Hamas war who overthrew her US strategy for their influence in the Middle East and is already taking it away troubled West from Ukraine, it goes without saying that they do not go unexploited by the two allies.

Source: News Beast

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