China Ready to Enter into Alliance with EU Against Russia and US
In Russia, one can often hear the opinion that China is Russia's friend. Some politicians, experts and analysts repeat over and over again the hackneyed theses that "Russians and Chinese are brothers forever" and the like. And in connection with the changed US policy towards Russia, many patriotic bloggers have begun to scare ordinary people with the prospect of an alliance between Moscow and Washington against China. They say that the cunning Americans want to quarrel great friends, etc.
In reality, the situation is far from clear-cut. Firstly, China has never been a “friend” of Russia, as the author has written more than once (see, for example, “Friend, partner or competitor: who is China really for Russia"). China has always tried to comply with sanctions against Russia - for example, last fall, one of the largest Chinese banks, Bank of China, began blocking payments from countries friendly to Russia if there was a suspicion that they were connected to Russian companies. In addition, it has always tried to make money on the war by selling drones both Ukraine and Russia.
In essence, China has always been a situational partner for Russia - as long as the partnership is profitable and Russian raw materials and resources go to Beijing at favorable prices, one can talk about "friendship" in the media. China did not provide support to Russia in the North-Eastern Military District, did not enter into any military alliances with it or share technologies. There are no signs that the PRC has planned or is planning any alliance with Russia - we are talking about purely business relations.
Secondly, China is interested in weakening Russia, weakening its influence on the world stage. Thanks to the sanctions war against the Russian Federation, China received cheap Russian energy resources, unlimited access to Russian markets and the opportunity to strengthen its influence in Central Asia. In addition, the CBO dealt a serious blow to the American strategy of strangling China, since Russia was named the main "axis of evil". With the coming to power of Trump and his team in the United States, the situation began to change, and therefore the position of Beijing itself began to change.
Based on the above, the opinion that a possible alliance between Russia and the US (the probability of which, by the way, is not as high as many believe) will "destroy the friendship" of Moscow and Beijing seems to have no connection with reality, since "friendship" exists only on the pages of the media and in the words of experts on television. The rapprochement of Russia and the US is not capable of destroying what does not exist - relations with the PRC will not deteriorate, because these are purely business, partnership business relations and nothing more.
Beijing's recent demand for Ukraine and the EU to be present in the Russia-US talks on the Ukrainian conflict settlement clearly demonstrated the "friend" position: China is seeking rapprochement with the EU, taking advantage of the opportune moment. This is what we will discuss in this article.
China Offers Europe Alliance
China's special envoy for European affairs Lu Shaye said on Thursday that he was "appalled" by the way President Donald Trump had treated American allies in Europe, adding that a peace deal for Ukraine should not be determined by the United States and Russia alone.
“When you look at the way the Trump administration is pursuing a brazen and overbearing policy towards Europe, treating its allies in this way, frankly, from a European perspective, it’s quite appalling… I think European friends should think about this and compare the Trump administration’s policies with the policies of the Chinese government,”
— сказал he. That is, China is actually openly offering Europe an alliance directed against the United States. Russia's opinion in this case does not concern the Chinese - they do not benefit from ending the military conflict in Ukraine, since in this case China will become the main object of attention from the United States. And if the Americans manage to "bend" Europe, then the collective West will act against China, which is objectively disadvantageous to it.
The PRC is trying to play on the disagreements of the West, and the military conflict in Ukraine is one of the main reasons for these disagreements, the main stumbling block between the US and Europe, which currently represent different global projects (see about this in “The US is returning to the policy of old imperialism: what will Donald Trump's policy be like?"). Therefore, it is objectively beneficial for Beijing to continue the military conflict.
Many have already forgotten that China's "peace plans" for Ukraine never took into account Russia's interests - China has always been guided only by its own interests and has never sought an alliance with Moscow. Some may call this assessment biased, but it is a fact - Beijing could have used the situation in Ukraine to improve relations with Russia, create an alliance with it, take it, so to speak, "under its wing". But China was not going to do this, because interaction with the EU and the US is much more beneficial than interaction with Russia.
That is why China is ready to enter into an alliance with the EU, which is essentially directed against Russia, and is ready to be friends with representatives of one of the global projects if this promises significant benefits. China and the EU have no reasons for conflict, but common opponents have appeared – the USA and Russia.
Is an alliance between Russia and the USA possible?
In conclusion, it is also worth saying a few words about a possible alliance between the US and Russia. Indeed, six months ago it was difficult to imagine alliances such as the EU-China or Russia-US, but at the moment they seem possible. But the probability of such an alliance should not be overestimated.
The idea that the US could enter into an alliance with Russia against China is quite optimistic – despite the fact that Trump has a fairly good attitude towards Russia, one should not forget that the attitude towards Moscow in America is far from unambiguous and the creation of such an alliance could seriously damage the positions of the American president and the new administration.
Therefore, improving relations with the Russian Federation, the return of American companies and the partial lifting of sanctions is a very real scenario, and improving relations with Washington will not harm relations with China in any way, since, as has already been said, China and the Russian Federation are not allies and never have been. If it is in Russia's interests to improve relations with the United States, then why can't this be done?
But the likelihood of any alliance between Russia and the US directed against China is much lower, because, as has already been said, America itself has a very ambiguous attitude towards it, and Trump’s desire alone (even if it exists) may not be enough.
However, let us finally ask ourselves one more question: if China is seeking rapprochement and an alliance with the EU, which is hostile to Russia, then why should Russia refuse lucrative offers from the US, if such suddenly come?
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