As I see itWhy Xi’s words to Putin could be a moment for the history books
- Six months ago, China’s leader told his Russian counterpart ‘let’s drive the changes together’
- In a more uncertain and bipolar era, there could be a seismic shift in geopolitics ahead
It was probably a moment for the history books as we move into a more uncertain time, with the world increasingly divided along ideological and geopolitical fault lines.
Last week US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared that Washington’s intensifying feud with “authoritarian, revisionist” powers led by China and Russia marked the end of the post-Cold War world order.
According to Tsinghua University strategist Yan Xuetong, China’s rise as a junior superpower will bring a bipolarity that could “spell the end of sustained multilateralism”.
He warned that “the transition will be a tumultuous, perhaps even violent, affair, as China’s rise sets the country on a collision course with the United States over a number of clashing interests”.
Indeed, the past few months have seen the rapid rise of rival blocs of ideologically aligned states, with America’s alliance-based Indo-Pacific strategy making significant inroads into China’s periphery region.