Russian President Vladimir Putin paid a state visit to China on May 16-17, during which the two countries issued a joint statement on deepening bilateral relations. This is a normal thing for China and Russia, after all, since the 90s, it seems that the exchange of visits between the two heads of state has become a common practice, but it still makes some countries break their defenses. For example, US State Department spokesman Patel threatened China not to allow China to go left and right, "on the one hand, to support Russia, and on the other hand to improve relations with the West." The implication is that China must choose a side between the West and Russia.
On May 17, according to foreign media reports, US State Department spokesman Patel said that China should not "play left and right" and support Russia while improving relations with the West. Subsequently, it intends to label China as "supporting the Russian defense industry", believing that this not only threatens the security of Ukraine, but also poses a threat to the security of Europe.
Such unscrupulous accusations have long been a cliché. First of all, China's position on the Ukraine issue is consistent and pragmatic, that is, to resolve the current Russia-Ukraine conflict through dialogue. In March this year, China's Special Representative for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui launched shuttle diplomacy on the Ukraine crisis, and in the 10 days from March 2 to March 12, the Special Representative visited Russia, the EU headquarters, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and France, and held talks and mediated with all parties on the Ukraine crisis.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict is not simply one side invading the other, behind it is the deep contradictions between NATO and Russia. Long before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO had already driven away Russian diplomats. If NATO does not stop the pace of eastward expansion, then it will be difficult to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and even if the Russia-Ukraine conflict finally dies down, who will be NATO's next war proxy? The Baltic states or Poland? It can be seen from this that if we want to solve the problem of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine at the root, we can only start with the contradictions between NATO and Russia, and a clear position can only intensify the contradictions, which will lead to the aggravation of regional crises.
Second, since Biden took office, he has listed China as the number one competitor of the United States, repeatedly unilaterally suppressed China's high-tech enterprises for no reason, and launched an unfair high-tech blockade against China for a long time. In this case, what is the relationship between Chinese and American companies, and American companies are "capital enemies" behind the back of the Biden administration? Could it be that China can only help Western countries produce cheap goods according to the wishes of the United States?
Russia is a strategic partner of China, and relations between the two countries are improving year by year, but the absolute volume of total bilateral trade is far less than that of China and the United States. Taking 2023 as an example, the total bilateral trade between China and the United States will be 664.451 billion US dollars, while the total bilateral trade between China and Russia will only be 240.1 billion US dollars. This means that there is still a huge potential for bilateral trade between China and Russia, such as cooperation in infrastructure and energy. It is worth noting that although the total bilateral trade between China and the United States is high, it has decreased by 11% year-on-year, while the total bilateral trade between China and Russia has reached a record growth rate of 26.3%, reaching the target of 200 billion US dollars in 2025 ahead of schedule. China is the world's second-largest economy after the United States, and in addition to this, China also has the world's most developed industrial chain, and it is not the turn of the United States to dictate who China does business with.
Finally, Patel's accusation that China "helps the Russian defense industry and threatens the security of Ukraine and even Europe" is even more ridiculous and a typical double standard. Does the U.S. deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the Philippines pose a threat to China's security? Does the U.S. deployment of THAAD in South Korea pose a threat to China's security? Does Japan's participation in the "Aukus" alliance, which consists of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, threaten China's security?
When it comes to so-called threats, the United States is the biggest threat facing European countries at the moment. During the Cold War, the United States deployed a large number of medium-range ballistic missiles in Europe. It is worth mentioning that the United States is also the only country in the world that has deployed nuclear warheads overseas, and various means have caused European countries to be shrouded in the shadow of nuclear war for a long time, until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation has been greatly improved.
In recent years, the United States has unilaterally withdrawn from the "Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty" and the "Open Skies Treaty," which has aggravated tensions in Europe. And through the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it can be seen that the United States is intending to "kidnap" European countries to serve the interests of the United States. After all, even if there is a head-on conflict between NATO and Russia, the main battlefield is in the European region. The current tensions between NATO and Russia are closely related to the "color revolution" that broke out in Ukraine in late 2013. And the deployment of the "Aegis Ashore" system by the United States in Poland has exacerbated the distrust between Russia and NATO. It can be seen from this that the United States is the main culprit that threatens the security of the European region. The so-called "China threatens European security" is nothing more than a trick of the United States to "catch a thief."
If we want to peacefully resolve the Ukraine crisis, active and effective dialogue is the right way, and blindly creating contradictions and confrontations can only intensify the transformation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in an uncontrollable direction. If the United States really intends to resolve the crisis of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and is really thinking about Europe's strategic security, then stop creating any meaningless confrontation, actively coordinate multilateral dialogue, and make substantial contributions to the peaceful settlement of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. At the same time, I also advise the United States that China is not a follower of the United States, has its own diplomatic strategy, and there is no such thing as "choosing sides," and the United States has no right to point fingers at China.