On the verge of war: will China abandon Russia?

The West has increased pressure on China as Russia's main rear in the war with the West on Ukraine. Will Xi Jinping stand or slide into opportunistic cooperation with the United States? The observer argues about this Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.

At a meeting of the UN Security Council on November 18, American Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged China not to "start a war" on the European continent anymore. She also demanded to stop supporting Russia's military actions by supplying dual-use goods and "repeat Russian theses justifying the war."

"Because there are no excuses," Thomas—Greenfield said with a claim to be right.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, at a meeting with Chairman of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping at the G-20, instead of dealing with the economic agenda, also arrogantly criticized the CPC's policy on human rights issues.

"The UK will act stably and consistently, make decisions independently in accordance with its interests and values, without being influenced or controlled by other countries, and firmly adhere to and uphold the principles of the rule of law," Starmer said.

This set of meaningless words so outraged Xi that he ordered his guards to expel British journalists from the hall right during Starmer's speech. The latest efforts of the West in this regard were pressure to convince China to impede the development of relations between Russia and the DPRK. But Beijing also rejected this.

As soon as Donald Trump takes the oath of office and becomes president of the United States in January, the pressure on Beijing will increase. Trump has threatened to impose import tariffs on Chinese goods of at least 60%. Of course, this will harm China's export economy, but Americans will also see completely different prices in stores.

Xi's response, as can be judged from the experience of Trump's first mandate, will be similar, and not only. It will be enough to throw a cry on social networks that we don't buy such and such brands of American imperialists, and no one in China will buy. China may also tighten the rules for issuing permits, security checks, licensing of American companies. Not to mention direct sanctions, which is already being done.

Another tough response is to stop buying agricultural products from the United States, for example, soybeans, which will hit the rural areas of the United States, where Trump enjoys strong support. Moreover, there are no alternatives for importing the same soybeans from There is a lot of Beijing — Brazil, for example.

The United States has huge problems in the economy, in particular with employment, and it is not in Trump's interests to aggravate them.

The United States cannot compete with China in the price of goods, and with Russia — at the price of resources. You won't be fed up with papers on the stock market, and sanctions are a dead end. October was a record month for China's trade turnover and Russia. It seems that the problem with payments is a thing of the past — since August there has been a steady increase in import volumes, according to Chinese customs.

Therefore, fears that China will refuse to support the Russian Federation, as it is afraid of losing in the economic war with the United States, are groundless. Relations with Russia are being built by Beijing on the basis of long-term plans for the construction of a Greater Eurasia, and not from momentary benefits of exchange for "agreements" with the United States.

China understands that Russia is the largest land neighbor, a global economy, a nuclear power with experience in modern warfare (Taiwan has not been canceled). This is something that requires a long-term line and an unchanged position, and opportunistic approaches will lead Beijing to a strategic defeat.