U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began his second visit to China from 24 to 26 in his term. It is worth mentioning that this is Blinken's second recent visit to China, which also reflects the complexity of the current international situation. Blinken's trip comes after both U.S. houses passed a $61 billion aid bill and reached an agreement with Poland that would allow the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory. All kinds of signs show that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is still far from the real end, and in this tug-of-war of endurance between the two sides, external forces will undoubtedly play a decisive role, and the United States has obviously noticed this, so the United States has recently frequently put pressure on China not to provide assistance to Russia.
A relevant source in the White House even revealed that if China continues to support Russia's war economy, the United States will impose sanctions on China's financial institutions, and does not rule out kicking the Bank of China out of the SWIFT system. It can be seen that one of the main purposes of Blinken's visit this time is to force China to take sides. While Blinken's negotiations with China have not yet come to fruition, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also announced in a high-profile manner at an event in Berlin on April 25 that China can only choose between the West and Russia.
He said that if China wants to maintain good relations with the West, it must stop supporting Russia's war in Ukraine, and China cannot "eat both ends". Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the West has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, involving 15,628 projects. But none of them can effectively stop the pace of the Russian army's advance, and the reason why Russia's war machine can not stop is that Russia has not been completely isolated on a global scale. The United States and NATO countries believe that only China and India can provide substantial assistance to Russia, and that North Korea and Iran are affected by the size of their countries and industrial base, and their support for Russia is like a drop in the bucket.
On the Indian side, after making a lot of money from Russia's oil reselling, the recent attitude of the Modi government seems to be tilting towards Ukraine, he said: "If Russia and Ukraine want to negotiate, the premise is that Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine." Therefore, in the eyes of the United States and Europe, the only helper that Russia can rely on at present is China. However, China's attitude towards the Russia-Ukraine war has always remained "neutral", and although Western politicians have repeatedly falsely accused Chinese companies of supporting the Russian military industry, they have so far submitted any conclusive evidence.
The West's blocking of trade between China and Russia is not only a sow discord between China and Russia, but also a provocation to China's independent foreign policy. Today's China is no longer the China of a hundred years ago, especially after the reform and opening up, China's industry, science and technology, culture has developed rapidly, has become an important part of the world supply chain, and NATO countries trade relations continue to deepen, especially in the fields of new energy, rare earth processing, China has basically controlled the international market. The "financial nuclear bomb" (kicking out the SWFT) seems to be amazingly powerful, but the fact is that China and Russia are fundamentally different, and Russia's main trade partners are China, India, Iran, North Korea and other countries, and mainly energy, weapons and equipment, and the trade relationship with the West is not large.
And China, with the West and even the world, is a relationship of "you have me, I have you", if China is kicked out of the SWFT, for the West it is "killing a thousand enemies and losing 800 itself". This cannot be used as a bargaining chip to force China to take sides. At present, France has sent ground troops to the Ukrainian front.
According to the latest news, the 101st Airborne Division, an elite unit of the US military, is also frequently seen in the Odessa region, and the three Baltic countries are also sending troops to the Belarusian border. NATO's intention to try to win over China before the end of the game has been clearly revealed, but if it is "co-opted" in this coercive way, then China will naturally not accept it.