Russia and China Combine Efforts
To Preserve World Peace

by William Jones

[PDF version of this article]

July 2—While the Obama Administration is rapidly pushing the world toward nuclear war in Europe and in Asia, the leaders of China and Russia have agreed to redouble their efforts—and their partnership—in order to offer to the world the possibility of a new directionality toward peace and development and away from the present path toward war. Immediately following the summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which is now in the process of adding India and Pakistan to its membership, and represents around half of the world’s population, the meeting in Beijing of the two presidents represents an absolutely ground-breaking development.

kremlin.ru After the expanded meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in Uzbekistan, June 23-24, Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) seen with China President Xi Jinping (on Putin’s left) and President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov (left).

The Joint Declaration issued by the two presidents takes aim at the underlying problem: the role adopted by the United States, during the successive presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to act as the “Roman Legion” for the crisis-ridden and collapsing British trans-Atlantic London/Wall Street System, a role which has propelled the United States and the NATO alliance into a desperate drive to assert their will and dominance everywhere in the world. This grave threat has been further enhanced by the mental instability of a Barack Obama who views his own role as maintaining the sadistic geopolitical position of the United States as the world’s sole remaining “superpower.”

In the Joint Declaration, Russia and China voiced great concern over the increasingly “negative factors” affecting the global strategic stability. “Some countries and military-political alliances seek decisive advantage in military and relevant technology,” the statement reads, “so as to serve their own interests through the use, or threatened use of force in international affairs,” the statement says. “Such a policy has resulted in an out-of-control growth of military power and has shaken the global strategic stability system.”

A New Type of Relationship

Most significantly, the Joint Declaration characterizes the relationship of their two countries as a “major power relationship,” a characterization that China also applies to its relationship with the United States, but which U.S. representatives have refused to utter, as it would tend to diminish its status as a de facto “imperial” power. The joint declaration also lays out the principles undergirding their relationship, principles which should serve as a universal norm for relations between sovereign nations, namely, respect for the other’s particular choice of development path, non-interference in the internal relations of the other, mutual support in the core questions of sovereignty, defense, development, the principle of win-win all-sided cooperation, and a rejection of confrontation.

“The signing of this agreement and its practical realization will have an important international dimension,” the statement says, “demonstrating to the entire world a successful example of the establishment of harmonic, constructive, equal, trustworthy, and mutually beneficial relations between major powers. The agreement between Russian and Chinese strategic foreign policy established on the basis of this cooperation will become a major factor in international life, permitting the formation of a just and rational multipolar world.” In the declaration, the two sides also commit themselves to bringing this new model of international relations to the United Nations. “Russia and China base themselves on the fact that the world architecture is experiencing a rapid evolutionary transformation in connection with the ongoing redistribution of forces on the world stage.”

Combating Interventionism

“The two parties support the idea of taking a resolution to the UN General Assembly condemning intervention and interference in a country’s internal affairs, opposing regime change in any country through unlawful intervention from the outside, and even through the extraterritorial use of the laws of one country in violation of international law.” The two sides also condemned the imposition of unilateral sanctions without the backing of a UN mandate.

The Declaration also underlines the growing importance of multilateral institutions such as BRICS and the SCO in the formulation of the norms and procedures in the international arena. The two sides reiterated their unity as victorious allies during the war against fascism and as permanent members of the UN Security Council in upholding the rule of law as this has been defined by the United Nations after the defeat of fascism. The document also throws down the gauntlet to the unilateral interventionism of the United States and Britain during the last few decades which has caused so much chaos in the world. “Some countries and military-political alliances seek decisive advantage in military and relevant technology, so as to serve their own interests through the use, or threat of the use, of force in international affairs. Such a policy has resulted in an out-of-control growth of military power and has shaken the global strategic stability system,” the Declaration says.

U.S. Department of Defense The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, an integrated naval weapons system targeting Russia, shown firing a test missile.

The Declaration condemns the deployment of missile defense systems, characterizing these as totally destabilizing, particularly the Aegis systems targeting Russia and the THAAD systems in the Asia-Pacific, targeting China. It also condemns the Prompt Global Strike system. “The long distance precision attack weapons developed by some countries, such as the global system for instant attack, may seriously damage the strategic balance and trigger a new round of the arms race,” the statement read.

Missile Defense Agency A launch of the THAAD missile defense system in the Asia-Pacific, targeting China.

Creating Synergy in Economic Development

The thirty agreements signed by the two parties indicate the efforts they have taken to combine China’s Belt and Road Initiative with the Russian-backed Eurasian Economic Union. While many of the agreements are follow-ups to the oil and gas deals already concluded, there was also a panoply of other agreements, which are aimed at bringing the Belt and Road and the Eurasian Economic Union into a collaborative relationship. The Joint Declaration underlines the complementarity of the two nations’ development projects, in particular Russia’s plans to develop its Far Eastern regions and China’s plans to revitalize its former industrial hub in China’s northeast. The declaration also noted the com­plementarity between the development of their two riverine programs, in the Volga region of Russia and in the Yangtze Development Zone in China. In his comments to the press after the meeting with the Chinese President, Putin indicated that over twenty agreements have been signed within this particular format.

The two sides agreed to move forward on financing and construction of the high-speed rail system between Moscow and Kazan, a key element of the Belt and Road Initiative. China will also invest in the Yamal liquid gas project in Russia’s Far North. Agreements were signed to increase the export of Russian wheat to China and the construction of a major grain terminal in the southern Baikal region close to the Chinese border, creating what Putin called a “new land grain corridor.” China will also invest in several grain elevators in the region.

Nuclear energy will continue to be a major area of development, with Russia prepared to build two more reactors in China’s Tianwan nuclear plant. The two countries will also work together to build a wide-bodied airplane and a new heavy-duty helicopter for both civilian and military use. Cooperation will also continue in aerospace. In their 2013-2017 program of cooperation in space, they will deepen their work on Earth observation, the study of the Moon and the outer planets, and the development of rocket engines, and they will conduct practical work in space navigation through collaboration between the satellite navigation systems of Russia (the GLONASS program) and China (the Beidou system).

Speaking to the press after their meeting on June 25, President Xi stressed the strategic importance of their relationship. “President Putin and I have unanimously decided that the more complicated the international situation, the more determined we should be, guided by the spirit of strategic cooperation and the idea of eternal friendship. We should strengthen mutual support, enhance mutual political and strategic trust and cooperation, and unswervingly deepen our relationship.”

The two sides have “almost identical views” on international issues, Putin said, and he underlined the importance of their cooperation in the SCO, the BRICS, and the United Nations. Both Xi and Putin are looking forward to the Sept. 4-5 G20 Summit in Hangzhou, where many of these issues of reforming international governance and avoiding war will no doubt be front and center. Given the escalating world-wide chaos and military dangers that are being spread by British-backed terrorism and the insane interventionism of the Obama Administration, this “new paradigm” is certain to muster strong support from the nations gathered there.