Russia, China declare ‘great power ties’
Meeting face to face for the first time since February when Russian President Vladimir Putin atended the opening of the Winter Olympic Games, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had direct talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Samarkand in Uzbekistan on Thursday, and Xi declared, “China is willing to make atempts with Russia to assume the role of great powers and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil.” The Chinese leader was quite guarded in his use of the words. He implied that China was willing to atempt to play the role of great powers. He has not declared China and Russia to be great powers. But he implied that the world needs the role of great powers, and that China and Russia could try to play that role in a world marked by “social turmoil”. He did not speak in terms of balance of power or the need to strategically counter the West dominated by the United States and Europe. President Xi is conscious that China’s economic ties with both Europe and the US are vital for Chinese economic growth, and he would not want to endanger China’s economic relationship with the West. Russian President Putin was quite explicit in pointing an accusing finger at the US for its role in the Ukraine war. President Putin has put it bluntly: “Atempts to create a unipolar world have recently acquired an absolutely ugly form and are completely unacceptable.”
His reference is to the economic sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union (EU) against Russia in the wake of the war in Ukraine. Russia had started the war on February 24 this year, and it continues with Ukraine gaining an upper hand on the batlefront in the east of the country in the last few days.
While Putin is candid about the clash with the West because he is faced with a hostile US and the EU over Ukraine, Xi is quite cautious in his articulation of China’s position. China is of the view that it is not opposed to Western democracies on ideological and military grounds.
China sees itself as defending its own national interests and nothing more, and this extends to Beijing’s position on Taiwan and
South China Sea. China has now come round to the view even as it adheres to the rule of the communist party in the country that it would not declare a war against democracies or even take an antagonistic position against democracies. China believes that a multi-polar world with different political systems is compatible with China’s own national interests. China would want to extend its global footprint as an economic power, and the Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is confined to expanding China’s economic influence.
Russia under Putin is atempting to recover its former military clout along with its economic one. Putin has realised that Russia’s gas supply to European neighbours is of strategic importance, and he can use it to press the
West. At the same time, Russia wants to play its former role as a military power in places like Syria, in Central Asia and in parts of Africa from Libya to Burkina Faso and Male. Putin, however, seems to be overestimating the military clout of Russia as can be seen in the war in Ukraine. The economic clout of Russia seems to be of greater value than its military power. What is, however, clear is in the strategic global alliance that Russia and China are seeking to forge, China has now emerged the senior partner with greater economic muscle, and perhaps even military strength, than Russia.