On February 4, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited China. This visit realized to participate in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics held in China. Putin also has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In the meeting, a declaration, which focuses on bilateral relations, was signed that shows the aim of sustainable development aims. The articles of the declaration areas in the following:
- There is a concern about AUKUS, the alliance between the United States of America (US)-the United Kingdom (UK)-Australia.
- The US shall give up deploying short and medium-range missiles to Europe and Asia-Pacific.
- Covid-19 pandemic shall not be politicized.
- China should support Russia’s security guarantees delivered to the West.
As it is known, Pekin supported Moscow in the meetings of Russia with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The leaders demanded the non-deployment of the middle and long-ranged missiles to especially Europe and Asia-Pacific region. In addition, the sides have confirmed that they would not interrupt the domestic politics of the other. Besides, they have clarified that they are against the color revolutions.
Shortly, Putin and Xi have sent a clear message to the collective West and reacted to the USA. The reality of the declaration is Russia’s inconvenience on the existence of the USA in the post-Soviet region and Chinese in the Asia-Pacific.
On the other hand, although China is defined as a rising superpower, it is aware that it is rapidly becoming isolated in global politics. For this reason, even if it does not want to enter into a military alliance with Russia, it needs the support of Moscow.
The United States has seen China as its main competitor in the administrations of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, as it did under Barack Obama. Therefore, despite the differences in method, the priority of the decision-makers in the White House is to contain and limit China. In this process, the Kremlin’s support of China is significant for Beijing.
Although some academics in the USA argue that the Washington administration should draw Moscow to its side in the fight against Beijing, the USA has not been successful in this regard. There are some reasons for this failure. The most important reason is that while China-Russia relations developed in the post-Soviet period; Crises marked the relations on the Washington-Moscow line.
Ultimately, Russia and China emerged with the multipolar world order discourse and came together in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and revealed that they would act together on Asian-centered security issues. In other words, Russia has sought to reconcile with its neighbor China in minimum commonalities and has taken a stance against the USA by adopting more global goals.
On the other hand, the coordinated increase of the pressure on China and Russia by the USA has also effectively established close and strong ties between the two countries. In other words, the parties focused on finding a way out by producing standard policies against Washington’s economic and political pressures. This type of relationship served the interests of both Moscow and Beijing.
However, if the pressure were applied only to Russia, China’s sense of solidarity with this country would be less. There are already examples of this in history. For example, while Henry Kissinger’s “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” during the Cold War brought about a rapprochement between the USA and China; It isolated the Soviet Union. For this reason, experts in the West see the understanding of politics that marginalizes both countries as a failure. Moreover, it is tough to put pressure on two great powers with imperial pasts simultaneously. Especially if this pressure leads the actors to act together, success decreases even more.
As can be understood, the policies of the USA enabled China to receive the support of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. In the pressures applied to Russia in Europe and the Black Sea, Moscow feels the support of Beijing behind it. Therefore, the Washington administration’s suppression of the two countries has created a process that favors Moscow and Beijing.
As a result, while the Summer Olympics took place in China in 2008, Russia, which declared war on Georgia and intervened in Ukraine while the Winter Olympics were held in Sochi in 2014, may now invade Ukraine during the Winter Olympics in China. In this environment, the meeting between Putin and Xi, the statements in the joint statement, and the symbolic stance at the opening ceremony of the Olympics are critical. It can be said that Moscow and Beijing acted in a spirit of self-confident alliance against the United States.
