According to the Global Network, after the sino-US joint agreement, on March 14, local time, Yang Jiechi and Sullivan will meet in Rome, and the main topics discussed by the two sides in addition to Sino-US relations, Ukraine is naturally one of the unavoidable topics.
This is also the first high-level meeting between China and the United States since the outbreak of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Beneath the seemingly calm surface, an undercurrent is creeping in.
In fact, the intention of the US side in seeking this dialogue is not difficult to guess. In the context of the continuous expansion of the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States has not achieved the expected goals, and under round after round of economic sanctions, the interests of the United States have been more seriously damaged. But U.S.-Russia relations have completely deteriorated, and China seems to be the only option for resolving U.S.-Russian contradictions.
The United States is now completely "unlicensed" on the Russian-Ukrainian issue. Especially after the "trump card" of "energy sanctions" failed to produce the expected effect, the United States has begun to play a "retreat". With Biden announcing the full implementation of sanctions on Russian energy, the price of refined oil products in the United States has soared, and the American people are also complaining.
In order to alleviate the dilemma of US oil prices, the White House even had to turn to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries for help. But Biden's phone calls were even rejected, and in the end, only the United Arab Emirates expressed its willingness to "increase production.". But this is still a drop in the bucket for U.S. oil prices. As long as other oil-producing countries do not increase production, they will not be able to solve the problem from the root causes. At the same time, a number of "European allies" of the United States are also hesitant to sanction Russian energy.
Although the voice of the sanctions is very loud, when the sanctions are really introduced, the allies have their own difficulties. The British side said that it will completely ban Russian energy imports before the end of 2022, but did not give a specific timetable for the ban; Germany's statement is even less to the United States, its Prime Minister Scholz said that the energy trade between Russia and Germany is very close, and Germany cannot find a suitable energy alternative for a while, so the German side will not give up energy cooperation with Russia for the time being.
As a result, the effectiveness of the US "energy sanctions" program is greatly reduced. Russia's economy not only did not have a big collapse scene, but under a series of targeted "anti-sanctions" policies, the US economy was greatly affected. Including the nationalization of all Western enterprises and assets in Russia, and the refusal to pay patent fees, although they did not hurt the bones of the US economy, they also fiercely "disgusted" the United States.
Since the benefits have not been reaped, the United States is also planning to take it away with interest. However, the problem facing the United States at present is that the Russian side, which has the advantage in the confrontation, has no intention of making a quick decision. If this is delayed for a long time, the United States is likely to become the first to fall due to "excessive blood loss". In this way, the United States wants the Chinese side to act as a "mediator."
In fact, the argument that only China can act as a "mediator" between Russia and Ukraine has been put forward once before by senior EU diplomats. However, at that time, the Chinese side clearly responded, encouraged direct dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, and pointed out that the United States and NATO were the initiators of the conflict, which meant that the United States would make concessions to solve the problem on its own.
Seeing that China is reluctant to come forward, the United States has also added chips when it intends to raise the issue of mediation again, that is, to intimidate China with "sanctions". Before leaving, Sullivan was very tough on the conflict between China and Russia and Ukraine, stressing that if China helps Russia evade US sanctions, then China may also be on the US sanctions list.
But such intimidation clearly has little deterrent effect. Today's United States is strong in the outside world and inflation is high, but if anyone dares to challenge China economically, then the first to fall must be the United States itself. Today's "sanctions" stick has long lost its effectiveness, and if China wants to come forward to "stop losses" for the United States, the White House's wishful thinking is inevitably too loud.