Preface
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China has adhered to the three principles of arms exports and has not provided military support to any of the parties involved in the conflict.
However, as Ukraine gradually disadvantage on the battlefield, many Western media have begun to believe that trade between China and Russia has led to Russia's continued offensive capabilities.
Based on this understanding, some US media reported that the US side plans to force China to suspend normal trade with Russia by "blackmailing" some Chinese institutions.
Why, then, does the United States think that normal trade between China and Russia will influence the conflict between Russia and Ukraine? And how does the mainland respond to the smear and threats from the United States?
Sino-Russian trade influences the Russia-Ukraine conflict?
It has been more than two years since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and although the West has imposed extremely severe sanctions on Russia, Russia's domestic war capability does not seem to have decreased, and a large number of Russian weapons and ammunition have been transported to the front line in batches.
Due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, many European countries have experienced a serious economic slowdown or even recession, and the continuous assistance to Ukraine is also wearing down the patience of ordinary Western people every moment.
What is even more important is that when the West spends so much money, it gets nothing in return.
Originally, the original intention of the West to vigorously support Ukraine in this conflict was to be able to expand its sphere of influence and weaken Russia's strength in this war.
However, despite the extremely severe sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, their approach has not achieved the results they had hoped for.
On the contrary, under the sanctions of Western countries, Russia's GDP growth rate reached 3.6% last year, which is better than that of many Western countries.
After spending so much, Russia's economy is still getting better and better?
Western countries naturally cannot accept such a result, so in addition to continuing to "increase the weight" on the battlefield in Ukraine, they have also begun to find ways to "excuse" their incompetence.
As a result, Western countries, including the United States, put the reason why Russia was able to continue the war on the normal trade between China and Russia.
Western media believe that it is precisely because China has not severed trade ties with Russia that the Russian economy can still be maintained under Sino-Russian trade.
In addition, various civilian products produced in China have also been used by Russia on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, which greatly ensures Russia's continuous combat capability.
It is precisely because of the Western media's smearing reports on normal trade between China and Russia that the United States has begun to demand that the mainland stop trade with Russia through various channels.
According to the "release" of some media, in order to prevent the mainland from continuing to engage in arms and trade cooperation with Russia, the United States may even sanction some Chinese financial institutions.
Shameless smearing
"What I want to say is that China and Russia have the right to carry out normal economic and trade cooperation, and such cooperation should not be interfered with or restricted, and China does not accept accusations and pressure. ”
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In fact, the smears and attacks of the United States and other Western media on the bilateral trade between China and Russia are completely unfounded.
Because, after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the mainland has always adhered to a neutral position and has not taken sides in this conflict.
The reason why Western countries think that China is helping Russia is entirely because Western countries have brought themselves into this conflict, and have imposed sanctions and suppression on Russia one-sidedly, while ignoring Russia's political demands.
While the United States and other Western countries continue to smear the economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia, they themselves are sending all kinds of weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
It is particularly noteworthy that with the strong comprehensive strength of Western countries, if they really wanted to let Ukraine win, then Ukraine would have already obtained sufficient weapons and equipment, and there would be no need to "beg" all over the world.
From this point of view, the purpose of Western countries' participation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is for the sake of their own strategic interests, not for the purpose of truly achieving peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Therefore, the smear of the Western countries on the normal trade of the mainland is very shameless!
Responding to the U.S. "blackout"
After the end of the Cold War, the United States was the leader of the global market, and it can also be said that it was the maker of international rules.
In the world financial system, the influence of the United States is even greater, and the normal trade between any country, as well as financial services, are of great importance to the United States.
For example, in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States kicked Russia out of the SWIFT system in order to achieve a greater effect of sanctions.
This SWIFT system is mainly for major banks in various countries to provide matching, clearing, certification and other services.
For a long time, due to the relatively neutral performance of the SWIFT system, this system is very important in the international financial market, so after the United States expelled Russia from the SWIFT system, some people believe that this measure is no less than a "financial nuclear bomb".
Now, in order to curb normal trade between China and Russia, the United States has openly threatened to use this means to force the mainland to make concessions on relevant issues.
However, although such sanctions by the United States may seem menacing, they are not inexplicable.
For more than 10 years, the mainland has been promoting the process of "de-dollarization", and with the mainland's strong manufacturing production capacity and the title of the mainland's largest "trade surplus" country in the world, we have been able to continue to promote the process of "de-dollarization" and achieve some results.
Just like Russia, which was kicked out of the SWIFT system by the United States, although the United States' approach has caused various constraints on Russia's use of US dollars for settlement in the international market, the Russian economy has not been greatly affected by the local currency settlement between Russia and other countries (especially between China and Russia).
But this has caused extremely serious damage to the hegemony of the dollar, for example, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has publicly stated that the trade between China and Russia has almost completed the de-dollarization.
Therefore, before the Americans choose to blacklist the mainland's financial institutions, they still need to think more about what kind of impact such a move will have on US hegemony.
After all, the balance of strength in the world has changed dramatically, and although the strength of the United States is still strong, it is no longer the point where it once "sought defeat alone".
Resources
Huanqiu.com, "Involving Russia, the United States Is Considering Imposing Sanctions on Chinese Financial Institutions and Other Institutions?", Ministry of Foreign Affairs Response, April 23, 2024
Securities Times, "U.S. Revealed to Be Drafting Sanctions That Could Cut Some Chinese Banks from the Global Financial System, Foreign Ministry Responds," April 23, 2024
Hunan Daily: "Russian Prime Minister: Russia's GDP grew by 3.6% last year, and it has become the world's fifth largest economy", April 3, 2024
Observer.com, "The U.S. Slanders China for 'Helping Russia Fight', China Refutes," April 13, 2024
The Paper: "Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The United States Introduces a Large-scale Aid to Ukraine Bill While Groundlessly Accusing China and Russia of Normal Economic and Trade Economy, Extremely Hypocritical", April 23, 2024
Observer.com: "Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: Sino-Russian trade has almost de-dollarized," April 23, 2024