Русский
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov completed a two-day visit to Beijing on Tuesday, where he met both Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and President Xi Jinping. In many ways, his trip was preparation for the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China, whose plans were confirmed by the Kremlin on the same day.
During the meetings, both sides paid a lot of attention to the Ukraine issue and agreed that any measures to resolve the conflict without the participation of Russia will not succeed. They also talked about jointly opposing the West’s policy of placing unilateral sanctions against both countries – which manifest themselves mainly as punitive tariffs on Chinese products, although now, sanctions are being introduced on Chinese companies such as ByteDance and TikTok. We include details from Beijing. We categorise them for ease.
Ukraine Peace Plan
According to an announcement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, during his visit to Beijing, Lavrov held a thorough exchange of views on a number of hot topics, including the Ukrainian conflict. Based on Lavrov’s statements at the final press conference on April 9, such an exchange of views once again demonstrated the commonality of approaches between Moscow and Beijing. “My Chinese colleagues and I confirmed the conclusion that any international events are futile, which not only do not take into account Russia’s position, but completely ignore it, which promote an absolutely empty, ultimatum, so-called Zelensky peace formula and thereby completely divorced from any realities,” the Russian minister said.
However, sentiment towards the Chinese peace plan was far more positive. Lavrov expressed gratitude to the partners for their objective, balanced position, for their readiness to play a positive role in the matter of political and diplomatic settlement.
Multipolar World Order
A significant part of the negotiations in Beijing was also devoted, as Lavrov noted, to the joint struggle for the establishment of a fair multipolar world order, where there is no place for dictatorship, hegemony, neo-colonial and colonial practices, which are now being widely used by the United States and the rest of the collective West. From further statements it became clear that the parties still have to work and work to achieve such a world order. This would manifest itself via the BRICS and a potential merge of that with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. We previously discussed that issue here.
Sanctions
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke in great detail about the economic problems that are created as a result of the illegal policy of unilateral sanctions, said Lavrov, commenting on negotiations with his Chinese counterpart, but added optimistic notes, unexpectedly declaring that Minister Wang Yi on April 8, during closed negotiations invented the formula “double counteraction against double deterrence.” Sergei Lavrov did not disclose the specific steps that Moscow and Beijing intend to take to jointly resist the sanctions pressure of the United States and its allies, however a strategy is being formed. Again, this probably involves a speeding up of BRICS / SCO coordination and new trade agreements. It is worth noting that the BRICS alone already has a higher GDP than the G7, with the latter being mostly responsible for many of the sanctions.
While Lavrov devoted a significant part of his discussions to the economic pressure Russia has from the West, Wang spoke about unilateral sanctions only once. “Unilateral sanctions violate international law, international order and are contrary to the development of the world,” he said, emphasising that China condemns such actions. The Chinese side though will have listened to Lavrov’s explanations of how sanctions against Russia are imposed and the negative effects. That will be filtered throughout China’s Foreign Ministry with answers expected as to mitigating against these. There is a pragmatic side to this: China also suspects that it may become increasingly sanctioned itself by the West and needs to prepare.
China’s businesses are already under constant pressure from the United States and the European Union, strategically important trading partners who have recently announced a course to reduce the risks of excessive dependence on China. Most of these restrictions are related to the United States restraining China’s technological development and weakening competition. For example, the US order that ByteDance (owners of TikTok) divest itself of Chinese ownership or face having TikTok removed from US usage is an example.
Also, over the past two years, Beijing has been constantly blamed for Russia’s alleged support in the Ukrainian conflict, although China has insisted on its neutrality in this matter.
The day prior to Lavrov’s arrival in Beijing, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated the risks for Beijing if its close cooperation with Moscow continues, saying that “We have made it clear to China that we see Russia being supported through the goods that China and Chinese firms supply to Russia, and that Chinese companies could face significant consequences if they continue to provide material support to Russia.”
Almost simultaneously, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned US allies that China is providing Russia with satellite imagery of military targets, as well as microelectronics and machines for the production of tanks.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry retorted to this remark by saying “China is neither the culprit of the Ukrainian crisis nor a party to it. We have never sought and will not seek gain from the crisis. China regulates the export of dual-use goods in accordance with laws and regulations.” The Chinese side also called for not discrediting the normal relations between China and Russia and not to harm the legitimate rights and interests of China and Chinese companies.
Impact on China Trade
Along with statements about the illegality of secondary US sanctions, Chinese companies and its financial sector are trying to protect themselves from possible negative consequences. In March, several of China’s largest banks stopped accepting payments from Russia in RMB Yuan due to the threat of secondary US sanctions. One, the Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank, the main bank with which Russian importers worked, suspended all settlements with Russia.
However, Beijing remains interested in returning to a full-fledged economic and investment partnership with the United States. For example, Xi Jinping’s speech before the meeting of the Chinese President with representatives of American business in Beijing at the end of March, which included calls to continue investing in China, confirms these intentions. China is in effect deploying a difficult political balancing act in which it takes into account its relations with the United States. However, this is nothing new. A multipolar world though is in more China’s interests than maintaining the current US led global order, and Beijing will be looking for fault lines within the US itself to accomplish this rather than provoke Washington more aggressively.
Lavrov noted that during the Russia-China meetings, both ministers paid special attention to the schedule of contacts at the highest level, since, according to him, the diplomacy of leaders, without exaggeration, is the central element of the Russian-Chinese comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction.
Putin-Xi Meeting
Russian Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that Sergei Lavrov’s trip to Beijing can be considered as preparation for upcoming contacts at the highest level. Thus, he confirmed Vladimir Putin’s plans to visit China. Peskov did not specify the timing of the visit, calling it premature. In March, Reuters reported that the Russian leader would go to China in May, however it seems meetings with Xi will now take place at the next Shanghai Cooperation Organisation annual heads of state meeting in Kazakhstan in June, and at the BRICS annual meeting in Kazan in October.
