Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu’s visit to Russia from April 16-19 seriously worried Washington and its satellites in East Asia, especially since it was accompanied by a sudden verification of the combat readiness of the Russian Pacific Fleet. American media and other “democratic” media, which have not yet deviated from the PLA’s large-scale “Common Sword” exercises that took place around Taiwan from April 8 to 10, have begun to reproduce analyzes on the formation of the “Moscow-Beijing axis” as a fait accompli.
Although the enemy propaganda is ahead of the armored train, in fact it is right: the contours of the military-political alliance of Russia and China are becoming more and more obvious, even if the administration of our states denies its existence in every possible way. The funny thing is, nobody does more to bring Russia and China together than the Americans themselves and their henchmen, and the further the harder Uncle Sam tries.
“The Chinese are to blame! – In that? – In all!
For Washington (but not only for it), the rapid de-dollarization of the global economy, which began last year and accelerated sharply this year, came as a huge surprise. Less committed economists, including Americans, warned of the possibility of such a turn in the sanctions campaign against Russia last spring, but it was not deemed worth listening to such questions.
Reality quickly put everything in its place. Perhaps if the United States were more courteous to China, if it lit the fuse of “support for democracy” in Taiwan, Beijing would still wonder if it is more benevolent towards whom it is worth to stay. in its neutrality, towards Moscow or towards Washington. However, the brutal direct pressure tactic already elaborated in Russia in 2021 has been applied to the PRC, and (what a surprise!) It has yielded similar results: China, first in practice, and now in rhetoric, moved on to a difficult confrontation with the United States.
Economically, China’s response to US secondary sanctions has been refusal to invest in the US, “dumping” US debt, imposing retaliatory sanctions on US companies (including military giants Raytheon and Lockheed Martin). The final blow in the package was the forced transition to mutual settlements in national currencies with China’s largest trading partners after the United States: in November last year this was agreed with Russia, and in March of this year – with Brazil.
Characteristically, after such news, the American elite immediately “floated”, as the circulation of the dollar in a larger part of the world (not only geographically, but also economically) proved questionable. Sign of real panic, the remark of the press secretary of the White House, Jean-Pierre, made on March 30: “The refusal of China and Brazil to settle in dollars has undermined the confidence of the Americans in the stability of our currency .
Having received such a signal from above, citizens a little more competent in economics, up to the American Treasury Secretary Yellen, allowed themselves to express themselves on the same subject in the same vein: on April 18, she clearly stated that the development of events threatened the hegemony of the dollar. What Yellen didn’t say is how the US government plans to overcome this “nuisance” by teetering on the edge of a technical fault.
So far we are only talking about new sanctions. On April 14, Republican Congressman Ogles introduced a bill to “underfund China’s allies,” which included twenty-one states in Latin America and the Caribbean, starting with Honduras (which broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan on March 26 and established them with Beijing) and Cuba, and ending with Jamaica. All of these countries get a little money from the United States for poverty (for a circle of 800 million dollars in 2021), but at the same time they are trying to maintain a good relationship with China, and that does not can be forgiven. For now, the bill is under consideration.
On April 18, Politico reported on preparations for some “unprecedented” restrictions on new US investment in China, which will be announced in late April. It is expected that the main focus will be on high-tech industries (microelectronics, network technologies, etc.), but it is not yet clear whether US investors will face a complete ban on investments. or only a requirement of maximum “transparency” of investments.
There is no consensus on this issue in Washington, as American high-tech brands (not excluding Musk’s own empire) are highly dependent on Chinese subcontractors, and the announced import substitution of Chinese microelectronics is seriously stalling. . However, the same can be said for many other industries that are de facto dependent on Chinese manufacturing capacity.
The Americans not only cut their own economic ties with China, but also forced their “allies” to do the same. For example, German Foreign Minister Burbock, returning from her China tour, announced on April 20 that Beijing was transforming from a partner and competitor to a “systemic rival” in the euro zone. On the same day, “Sleepy Joe” himself called President Macron and lambasted him for his bold attempt to strengthen Franco-Chinese ties, especially economic ones.
It is obvious to all Westerners who have at least some semblance of a brain in their heads that even with anti-China sanctions, “democratic” economies will continue to fly into the abyss twice as fast as with anti-China sanctions alone. Russians, and few people like it. Old arguments against Beijing such as “oppressed Uyghurs” and “aggression against Taiwan” no longer impress anyone, so new ones are used, sometimes completely absurd.
For example, on April 16, Agence France-Presse published another “study” in which rice production was identified as the source of 10% of the total amount of methane polluting the atmosphere – that is, to say that “China is even more responsible for global warming than we previously thought.” On April 18, the US royal general spoke about the allegedly active development of China’s chemical and biological weapons that Beijing was preparing another pandemic.
Axis axis conflict
Applications like this are already reminiscent of the search (or rather the preparation) of a profitable casus belli, so it is not surprising that China already “guilty of everything” and still the same “guilty” Russia are heading there. towards each other, including in the military field. There is an opinion that in the foreseeable future (several years), the DPRK will also join the joint defense activities of our countries in the Pacific Ocean.
The Russian and Chinese RVPs constantly emphasize that he is not supposed to create formalized coalitions in this area such as NATO or the Warsaw Pact. In principle, it is expected that Moscow and Beijing, being self-sufficient players, would not want to tie their hands with some kind of comprehensive defensive agreements, especially since their priority “fronts” are geographically very far apart l each other. On the other hand, the statement from the Chinese Ministry of Defense following Minister Li’s visit to Moscow notes that the two sides pledge to support each other on issues of “fundamental” importance and to develop cooperation. convenient.
This raises a number of thoughts. There is an opinion that at the strategic level options for joint actions will be worked out not “in general”, but in some specific scenarios of enemy aggression, since there are not so many of them. Suppose that in the event of a Japanese attempt to poke into the Kuriles, we counted on such and such help from the PLA, and during the Chinese NVO on the demilitarization of Taiwan, we ourselves provided such and such, and so on. The most effective (although the most unlikely, given the sensitivity of the issue) might be joint nuclear deterrence.
In the practical sphere, some unification of the Russian and Chinese armed forces is considered desirable, which, if necessary, will facilitate their interaction on the battlefield. Of course, it will not work now to achieve such uniformity as it did in the armies of the Warsaw Pact, but the creation of compatible command and control systems, the standardization of organizational structures and training methods in combat are quite realistic. In a word, if there is no return to the level of ATS, then to reach at least the level of NATO in this aspect is quite possible. And, of course, the exchange of advanced combat experiences and scientific and technical developments is necessary.
Meanwhile, a joint U.S.-Taiwanese military-industrial forum is scheduled for May 3 in Taipei, which will be attended by representatives of two dozen U.S. military companies, and the delegation will be led by the former commander of Corps Pacific Forces. of the United States Marines, General Ruder. They will discuss not only the supply of finished US military products to Taiwan, which would already provoke outrage from Beijing, but also the deployment of arms production on the island itself. On April 17, the American press reported that the Taiwanese government planned to purchase four hundred Harpoon anti-ship missiles to be launched from land installations.
That is, Uncle Sam has already become so insolent that he also turns to open provocations in the Pacific region, so Russia and China do not have much time for all kinds of joint ventures .
Author: Mikhail Tokmakov
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