Wednesday ended the three-day visit of the Chinese President Russiathereafter Xi Jinping And Vladimir Putin They signed a dozen non-binding memoranda of understanding and approved a Chinese peace plan Ukraine, which, however, offers nothing concrete. It seems that the meeting of Xi with Putin had little real (at least public) results, while it caused a wide resonance in Russian society and had great symbolic meaning.
State media have been closely following the Chinese President’s every move on Russian soil, outdoing each other to ensure how much this “visit of the year it is the most dangerous.” the West” is important. Journalists and pro-government experts unanimously said that the friendship was between the two Villages is “stronger than ever,” which defines the coalition between China And Russia a “blood union”. Each time it was emphasized that the United States they are dissatisfied with visit while Europeans they were overwhelmed by amazement and hysteria.” At the same time, the propaganda thesis of the “elder brother” who had come “to openly take sides Russia“, has real foundations.
Even if the visit from Xi was discussed even before the start of the war, it happened that the Chinese leader regained consciousness Fly a few days after that International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant Wladimir Putinand thus demonstrates that the China he will not turn his back on him Russia despite the West’s desire to isolate it. For the Russia, This symbolism was the main result of the meeting. Aside from confirming that Beijing he has not given up Fly, Putin managed to send an important message to both external and internal audiences, namely to get closer to the Chinese leader’s “aura of legitimacy,” as the sinologist put it Alexei Chigadayev. Now that the Russian President has stayed in the company of other rather controversial heads of state, such as the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenkoits reputation is strengthened through public contact with the recognized world market leader.
However, the essence of the relationship between the two presidents apparently nobody missed it: today the Russia needs the China much more than that China needs that Russia. That goes for every industry, starting sale From natural resources for technological exchange and military support. The war with Ukraine is already contributing to the “soft colonization” of the country by its neighbors, the statement said Putin as a war criminal he only reinforced the dependent position of the Russia. There China could use the nerf Fly to further increase this dependency without providing any significant help and without making any concrete promises.
According to the Russian political scientist Vladimir Pastukhova senior fellow at University College London, the political decision that Russia will henceforth “survive as partner irrelevant of China (as well as India and Turkey)” was recorded directly in the Kremlin. But while propagandists and pro-government “patriots” are trying to demonstrate the meeting between them Xi Jinping And Wladimir Putin “It is equally necessary for both of them”, both from the far left and from the far right there is dissatisfaction with the fact that the Russia becomes a vassal of China.
From the liberal opposition they ironize that “the emperor has come with an inspection of his northern province” and that the propagandists “They don’t lick the shoes of the new Chinese masters enough”. The TV station dozhd in his service he calls Putin “The subject of Comrade Xi,” while journalists from Medusa They note a “vivid sense of patronage” permeating all communications between the Chinese president and Russian authorities. Experts remember the meeting, even the ceremonial one, which took place 73 years ago Joseph Stalin And Mao Zedong To Fly. It was then Stalin speak with mao (for whom the meeting was rather humiliating) from the position of “big brother”. Today Xi he seemed to have come to “return the slap” of “big brother”, e.g Putin had no choice but to set the status publicly Russia as a “junior partner” of China.
But the most colorful and frequently used historical parallel were the famous yarlyk (edicts) from which the princes in Old Russia received conqueror mongolians rule over an area. In the XIII-XV centuries, during the Mongol-Tatar yoke, whoever wanted to rule in one or another part of the Russia had to go khan ofGolden Horde and obtain written approval from him. So the political scientist Ivan Preobrazhensky in an article for Deutsche Welle he states directly: “Xi Jinping handed over to Putin a Jarlyk to rule” – and unexpectedly there are those who agree with him on the other side of the political spectrum. The government publicist Dmitry Olshansky writes: Thank God, “Now it’s more advantageous that we have a Khan in the Horde whom the Pope and the Knights hang around his neck,” alluding to the imposed ideology from the West. According to this unexpected logic some Turbo Patriots they even come to the thesis that “the Russia in the 21st century a vassal should be that China“, simply not from America. Since they accept that “tired” and “surrounded by enemies” Russia can no longer be “a fully independent state, a great empire”, it is necessary to rely on someone and befriend against others.
Also Pastukhov agrees with the original thesis: “The Russia as a sovereign state it can only exist by maneuvering in between west And Orient. After this war started Putin he disturbed the geopolitical balance and therefore left the Russia practically defenseless against the gentle expansion of the China counted for decades”. However, for supporters of the authorities this position seems contradictory, as they have further explained how it would be convenient for the authorities Russia become a satellite of China, directly from the promises of the great “Russian world”. The reason is that the Chinaaccording to his policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of its business partners, it will have no interest in influencing Russian ideology and its established system of power; will not criticize corruption and human rights abuses or attempt to introduce “harmful” Western values such as feminism and LGBT.
The addiction to China therefore it does not cause major problems. “There China, In contrast to theAmericaclaims our resourcesbut not our identity,” he writes Olschansky. The orthodox nationalist and RT columnist joins him Yegor Kholmogorov: “If aliens invaded us and were ready to wipe them out USA and the Bornthen I would be happy to send them a million truckloads of oil or whatever they need free of charge.” The opposition politician examines these arguments Abbas Gallyamov states that “a true Russian patriot will always find someone to submit to”.
Meanwhile, this week it was revealed that the Central Bank of Russia he wants to teach his own Employees the Chinese language and also the Russia will start paying bills with AsiaAfrica and Latin America in yuan. The growth of yuan in foreign trade, the share of this currency in the National Property Fund of the Russian Federation could increase to 60% as early as 2023. With all this, a legitimate question arises for many: namely whether the China can be for that Russia a big brother like that Russia it has become for them Belarus. The political scientist Catherine Schulman considers this unlikely: If the Russian regime begins to fall, hardly that China She will be interested in helping him with this Putin aspired to keep the Belarusian President in power in 2020. Lukashenko he was helped because it was felt that whatever regime would replace him would no longer need him Russia.
“For the ChinaI don’t think that logic can work. Why would they do that if they are no worse sympathetic to the next regime established in that area?” He says schoolman. “Right, if the current regime lasts another 10-15 years and during that time becomes a full Chinese vassal like that North Koreathen yes, any overthrow of this regime will be considered harm to them Chinese property“. As he fears Igor Strelkovthe former Secretary of Defense Donetsk People’s Republic and long-time critic of the regime, if events developed in this way, the Russian authorities “would definitely not give a damn about all trains of thought and would simply and stupidly carry out the orders of the “Beijing Regional Committee”.
It’s not the first time they’ve met parallels with the communist past, and to tell the truth, they suggest themselves. So follow the protocol before you a Fly Xi Jinping and Putin They exchanged articles on bilateral relations. The article from Xi with his photo and the title «Continuing with persistence in the face of new perspectives from FriendshipCooperation and joint development of China And Russia» appeared on the front page of Rossiyskaya Gazeta, an official government newspaper. The article from Wladimir Putinalso written in the best Soviet rhetoric (“Russia and China: a partnership that looks to the future”), was published by the newspaper der Chinese Communist Party Renmin Ribao on the third page without photos. But an even more striking return to the Soviet past was the transmission of the aphorisms from on the occasion of the Chinese leader’s visit Xi Jinping on the federal television channel Russia 24. Just like the quotes from the Great Helmsman Mao, which were widely circulated in the USSR in the 1950s, the Russians were presented with the sharp statements of Xi such as “Ideal and unshakable beliefs arise from solid ideological doctrine”. As far as we know, none of the Chinese channels have broadcast the philosophical quotes from Putin.