How Western pressure is pushing China and Russia ever closer

Beijing and Moscow have intensified their collaboration, ranging from deepening military, political and economic ties to hitting new levels of cooperation on energy and space research
This comes amid increasing rhetoric targeting the two from the US, Nato, the G7, the EU and others

Danil Bochkov

Published: 3:30am, 20 Dec 2021

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No sooner had the video conference between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin finished than Biden promised “devastating consequences” in the form of new sanctions against Moscow should it act recklessly on Ukraine. Putin detailed Russia’s red lines on Ukraine, including deployment of strike weapons and Nato’s eastward expansion.

Instead of seeking compromise, the US and its allies appear to be growing more acrimonious towards Russia as well as China. In October, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin attended the first post-pandemic meeting of the transatlantic security alliance’s defence ministers, putting China on the summit’s agenda along with Russia’s “malign activities”.

The US deemed China a “pacing threat” during the meeting, while Nato identified it as a challenge in artificial intelligence and weapons systems. Nato Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana went on to detail China’s advancements and how it was “expanding its global economic and military footprint in Africa, in the Arctic and in cyberspace. And it’s investing in our own critical infrastructure, from 5G networks to ports and airports.”

China’s rise and the Russian threat dominated Nato’s agenda, and both were incorporated into a revised version of the group’s 10-year strategy, released on November 25. The new document described China as a “systemic challenge” to Nato on a par with Russia, a stark departure from the previous 10-year strategy document which did not mention China at all.

Rhetoric targeting Russia and China is not exclusive to Nato but is increasingly present in other US-led forums. The recent Group of 7 foreign ministers meeting in Liverpool, UK, opened with a theme of collective defence “against the growing threats from hostile actors”. With the departure of German chancellor Angela Merkel, seen as one of the last pragmatic voices on China in Europe, the bloc could grow more in tune with Nato and the US.

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Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, has described China as a “strategic and ideological challenge”. This adds to the other issues complicating relations, including Beijing’s quarrel with Lithuania over its relations with Taiwan and the growing diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Meanwhile, Britain is trying to solidify opposition to Russian gas deliveries, specifically opposing the Nord Stream 2 project. China has criticised what it calls politicisation of the issue in a show of support for Russia. It has also supported Moscow’s demands for security guarantees from the US and backed Russia’s call to convene a UN Security Council summit in 2022.

For its part, Russia has expressed its support for China by denouncing the “politicisation” of sports and plans to boycott the Winter Games. Moscow has maintained a positive attitude about the Games and China’s abilities as host, with Putin saying during a video conference with President Xi Jinping that “China knows how to do it”.

The US and its allies have repeatedly portrayed Russia and China as autocratic states involved in human rights abuses. In a bid to reinforce Washington’s global leadership as a proponent of democracy, Biden held a virtual summit with more than 100 participants to avert what he called “sustained and alarming challenges to democracy”.

The summit drew much derision from its intended targets. Moscow and Beijing jointly decried the gathering, calling it “an evident product of [America’s] Cold-War mentality”.

In their latest get-together, Xi and Putin met via video conference on December 15 to further solidify their partnership and assess their bilateral achievements of the past year. The 37th meeting between the two leaders since 2013 came on the heels of the Biden-Putin summit.

During the run-up to their most recent talks, Moscow officials spoke of the discussion as being held by “allies” – a rare use of the term in a relationship usually described as a strategic partnership. Putin called China-Russia relations a “benchmark of interstate cooperation”, while Xi noted that they “emerged from all kinds of tests to demonstrate new vitality”.

In short, the Xi-Putin summit reassured both sides of their friendship, accused the US and its allies of tampering with international law, scorned alliance-building in the Asia-Pacific and outlined plans for China and Russia to establish a “correct view of democracy”. The timing of the meeting resembled an earlier meeting of the leaders on June 28, several weeks after the Putin-Biden summit wrapped up in Geneva on June 16.

President Xi Jinping (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin enter a hall for talks in the Kremlin in Moscow on June 5, 2019. Photo: AP

Russia and China tend to coordinate their international moves, especially by holding high-level summits before or just after most important meetings with their Western counterparts. It speaks of their wish to highlight the closeness of relations and spotlight their political trust.

For the same reason, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in March following the US-China summit in Anchorage, Alaska.

External pressure is likely to be even stronger in the new year as Russia and the US are building towards presidential elections in 2024, which will bring harsher outward rhetoric. Meanwhile, China is entering an important period in its five-year political cycle.

China and Russia are expected to continue building on the momentum in relations, with a particular emphasis on military exchanges, as detailed in a newly signed road map for closer military cooperation. That was followed by an agreement between the two governments to jointly deal with external pressure and “illegitimate sanctions”.

The two sides have intensified their collaboration, ranging from deepening military, political and economic ties to hitting new levels of cooperation on energy and advancing joint technological and space research. This cooperation is becoming increasingly relevant as the US continues to muster its allies and lead efforts that target China and Russia as enemies.

Danil Bochkov is an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council