Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a summit with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which Putin is technically banned from, on Friday.
The two tyrants released a lengthy joint statement that denounced the civilized world for seeking to “impose its own democratic standards” on authoritarian regimes, opposed “further enlargement of NATO,” and confirmed China’s right to control Taiwan.
“Russia and China stand against attempts by external forces to undermine security and stability in their common adjacent regions, intend to counter interference by outside forces in the internal affairs of sovereign countries under any pretext, oppose color revolutions, and will increase cooperation in the aforementioned areas,” the statement said.
The joint statement brought Russia firmly into China’s propaganda system, securing Putin’s endorsement for the Chinese Communist assault on the very concept of human rights in exchange for China backing Putin’s campaign against Ukraine and Eastern Europe:
The sides oppose further enlargement of NATO and call on the North Atlantic Alliance to abandon its ideologized cold war approaches, to respect the sovereignty, security and interests of other countries, the diversity of their civilizational, cultural and historical backgrounds, and to exercise a fair and objective attitude towards the peaceful development of other States.
The sides stand against the formation of closed bloc structures and opposing camps in the Asia-Pacific region and remain highly vigilant about the negative impact of the United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy on peace and stability in the region. Russia and China have made consistent efforts to build an equitable, open and inclusive security system in the Asia-Pacific Region (APR) that is not directed against third countries and that promotes peace, stability and prosperity.
Putin enthusiastically endorsed genocidal China’s hosting of the Olympic Games, with both sides congratulating each other for “bilateral cooperation in sports and the Olympic movement” and expressing their “readiness to contribute to its further progressive development.”
Russia also expressed support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and pledged to help link the Communist infrastructure project to the Eurasian Economic Union.
“The sides reaffirm their focus on building the Greater Eurasian Partnership in parallel and in coordination with the Belt and Road construction to foster the development of regional associations as well as bilateral and multilateral integration processes for the benefit of the peoples on the Eurasian continent,” the joint statement said.
On the other hand, China and Russia condemned the AUKUS security alliance between the United States, Britain, and Australia. The aggressive authoritarian regimes were particularly irritated by cooperation on nuclear submarines between AUKUS members.
“Russia and China believe that such actions are contrary to the objectives of security and sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific region, increase the danger of an arms race in the region, and pose serious risks of nuclear proliferation,” the statement said.
Putin and Xi said they “strongly condemn such moves and call on AUKUS participants to fulfill their nuclear and missile nonproliferation commitments in good faith and to work together to safeguard peace, stability, and development in the region.”
The joint statement criticized another vital U.S. ally, Japan, for its plan to “release nuclear contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean,” dismissing it as irresponsible and demanding Japan consult with “neighboring states, other interested parties, and relevant international agencies” to formulate a new plan.
Russia and China have both been developing weapons and building up their military capabilities with reckless speed, but in the joint statement they harangued the United States for pulling out of arms control treaties it has long accused Russia of violating and China of ignoring.
“The sides express concern over the advancement of U.S. plans to develop global missile defense and deploy its elements in various regions of the world, combined with capacity building of high-precision non-nuclear weapons for disarming strikes and other strategic objectives,” the Putin-Xi statement said.
There was some grim amusement to be found in China, which just devastated the world by unleashing a deadly global pandemic, and Russia, which uses chemical weapons to murder dissidents, expressing their “serious concerns” about “domestic and foreign bioweapons activities by the United States and its allies.”
In sum, the statement is interesting because Russia is clearly the junior member in the partnership, offering its unquestioning support for China’s global agenda in exchange for Chinese protection against Western sanctions.
The U.S. State Department sought to dash Russia’s hope of evading sanctions with Beijing’s assistance on Thursday by warning Chinese firms they would face punitive action if they attempt to work around international sanctions imposed after a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. While China’s human rights crimes are more severe than Russia’s, many of these firms largely operate freely in America.
“We have an array of tools that we can deploy if we see foreign companies, including those in China, doing their best to backfill U.S. export control actions, to evade them, to get around them. I wouldn’t want to speculate on what those tools are, but we do have tools that can address that, and that would seek to account for that,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday.
Price also advised Putin not to develop a dependent relationship with China that would weaken Russia’s economy over the long term.
“This is a recipe for catastrophe for the Russian economy, if Putin thinks that the measures we’ve talked about won’t have the bite, won’t have the consequences that we’ve warned about. And no partnership can account for the massive economic toll that we’ve talked about given the financial tools that are available to us, the sanctions tools that are available to us, and the export control actions, among others, that we’re in a position to take,” Price said.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin disembarking upon his arrival in Beijing on February 4, 2022, ahead of his meeting with China’s president and the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (STR/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)
During his opening remarks for the summit, Putin said Russia’s close ties to China are “unprecedented in the spirit of friendship and strategic partnership,” while Xi expressed his commitment to “deepening back-to-back strategic cooperation and safeguarding international fairness and justice side by side.”
“This is a strategic decision that has far-reaching influence in China, Russia and the world, and will not be shaken,” the Chinese dictator intoned.