Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is using his first trip abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to promote Beijing’s strategic ambitions at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders of a Central Asian security group.
The Chinese leader is promoting a “Global Security Initiative” announced in April following the formation of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue by Washington, Japan, Australia and India in response to Beijing’s more assertive foreign policy.
Xi has given few details, but US officials complain that it echoes Russian arguments in support of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
Photo: AP
Xi, 69, is due to meet Putin in Uzbekistan this week at a summit of the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which also includes Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
“China and Russia share the same stance in opposing the Western practice of imposing sanctions and overthrowing regimes of other countries,” said Li Xin (李新), director of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law’s Institute of European and Asian Studies.
Xi’s trip at a time when his government is urging the Chinese public to avoid foreign travel under its “zero COVID-19” strategy emphasizes the importance to the ruling Chinese Communist Party of asserting China’s role as a leader in the region.
The summit takes Xi abroad at a time when the party is preparing for next month’s congress where he is expected to break with political tradition and try to award himself a third five-year term as leader.
That suggests Xi, China’s most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, is confident he does not need to stay home to make political deals. It also might help to promote his standing with nationalists in the ruling party.
Xi’s government has refused to criticize Putin’s attack on Ukraine. It accuses the US of provoking the conflict.
Xi has participated in other global gatherings by videoconference. His only trip outside the Chinese mainland since early 2020 was a one-day visit to Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary of the end of British colonial rule.
Other Shanghai Cooperation Organization governments are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Iran and Afghanistan are observers.
“The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is attracting more countries with a new principle that is completely different from the West in handling relations between nations,” Li said.
China sees the group, founded under Xi’s predecessor, former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), as a counterweight to US alliances across East Asia to the Indian Ocean.
Relations with Washington, Europe, Japan and India are increasingly tense over complaints about trade, technology, security, Taiwan, Hong Kong, human rights and territorial conflicts at sea and in the Himalayas.
Meeting Xi is a boost for Putin, who is isolated following his invasion of Ukraine.
Xi declared the two governments had a “no limits” friendship when the Russian leader attended the Winter Olympics in Beijing ahead of the Feb. 24 invasion.
Xi in April said that the “Global Security Initiative” was intended to “uphold the principle of indivisibility of security” and “oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries.”
Despite the bland language, US officials and Asian security analysts see Xi’s initiative as a tactic by China, with the world’s second-largest military after the US, to dominate the region.
US Department of State spokesman Ned Price in April said that it appeared to “parrot some of what we have heard coming from the Kremlin” as justification for the attack on Ukraine.
“This is a blatant effort at the pursuit of an Asian hegemony by China,” Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan of the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank, wrote in The Diplomat.
It is “designed to promote China’s interests in its great power competition with the United States,” he wrote.
At a July meeting, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that China would “strengthen strategic communication” with Moscow about international security, a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
That will “show the basic momentum of China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership” and “practice true multilateralism,” the statement said.
BEYOND WASHINGTON: Although historically the US has been the partner of choice for military exercises, Jakarta has been trying to diversify its partners, an analyst said Indonesia’s first joint military drills with Russia this week signal that new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto would seek a bigger role for Jakarta on the world stage as part of a significant foreign policy shift, analysts said. Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta. “It is part of a broader agenda to elevate ties with whomever it may be, regardless of their geopolitical bloc, as long as there is a benefit for Indonesia,” said Pieter
US ELECTION: Polls show that the result is likely to be historically tight. However, a recent Iowa poll showed Harris winning the state that Trump won in 2016 and 2020 US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris courted voters angered by the Gaza war while former US President and Republican candidate Donald Trump doubled down on violent rhetoric with a comment about journalists being shot as the tense US election campaign entered its final hours. The Democratic vice president and the Republican former president frantically blitzed several swing states as they tried to win over the last holdouts with less than 36 hours left until polls open on election day today. Trump predicted a “landslide,” while Harris told a raucous rally in must-win Michigan that “we have momentum — it’s
‘SHARP COMPETITION’: Australia is to partner with US-based Lockheed Martin to make guided multiple launch rocket systems, an Australian defense official said Australia is to ramp up missile manufacturing under a plan unveiled yesterday by a top defense official, who said bolstering weapons stockpiles would help keep would-be foes at bay. Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said the nation would establish a homegrown industry to produce long-range guided missiles and other much-needed munitions. “Why do we need more missiles? Strategic competition between the United States and China is a primary feature of Australia’s security environment,” Conroy said in a speech. “That competition is at its sharpest in our region, the Indo-Pacific.” Australia is to partner with US-based weapons giant Lockheed Martin to make
TIGHT CAMPAIGN: Although Harris got a boost from an Iowa poll, neither candidate had a margin greater than three points in any of the US’ seven battleground states US Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the final days before the election, as she and former US president and Republican presidential nominees make a frantic last push to win over voters in a historically close campaign. The first lines Harris spoke as she sat across from Maya Rudolph, their outfits identical, was drowned out by cheers from the audience. “It is nice to see you Kamala,” Harris told Rudolph with a broad grin she kept throughout the sketch. “And I’m just here to remind you, you got this.” In sync, the two said supporters