2023-07-12 08:07:19
The Speaker of the Federation Council of Russia, Valentina Matvienko, visited China recently. According to Russian media reports, after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Matviyenko told reporters, “The main thing I got from all the talks and conversations is that China will continue to cooperate with Russia consistently and persistently, Maintain the friendship between the two countries and the two peoples. On China, we can rely on the firm and reliable shoulders of friendship.”
Matviyenko mentioned that “China is a shoulder of friendship that can be relied on”, showing the active and passive relationship between China and Russia in cooperation, and the leading power is in the hands of China.
Eleven years ago, that is, in 2012, when Putin won the presidential election, Putin clarified two misunderstandings about China when answering how to define Sino-Russian relations: China’s economic development is not a threat, but a challenge, and it includes industrial cooperation. Huge potential and a good opportunity to take advantage of China’s east wind to boost Russia’s economic sails. The revitalization of Siberia and the Far East can take advantage of China’s potential; China has no ambition to dominate the world, and Russia and China will support each other to jointly solve regional and global acute issues and strengthen interaction in international organizations.
At that time, Putin still needed to clarify misunderstandings about China to all walks of life in the country. Now, Matviyenko’s visit to China clearly told Xi Jinping that all walks of life in Russia have reached an absolute consensus on the development of Russia-China relations.
Matviyenko has visited China many times. The picture shows Xi Jinping meeting with Matviyenko, chairman of the Russian Federation Council who is visiting China, in Beijing in July 2018. (China News Agency)
At that time, Putin saw China’s rise as a good opportunity to take advantage of China’s east wind to boost Russia’s economic sails. Now, Matviyenko calls China a shoulder to rely on. From the sails to the shoulders, the importance of China is not what it used to be.
The past decade has been a decade in which Russia failed to improve relations with the US and the West and faced many sieges. From the Crimean crisis to the Udon War, Russia has been deeply damaged in its struggle with the West, and the rising China has become one of the few countries that can continue to provide Russia with support. This support is not just at the political level. China’s huge market provides breathing space for the Russian economy.
In addition, the rise of China is changing the global geopolitical landscape, and the relationship between China and other parties is undergoing complex changes. Among the many changes, the change in the Sino-Russian strategic cooperative relationship is actually a change in the dominance of Sino-Russian relations, and China has more say. Today’s China is no longer the China that had strategic cooperation with Russia in the past, and Russia must adapt to the reality that China is no longer what it used to be.
The blunt term “shoulder” is Russia’s response to changes in Sino-Russian relations. For a period of time, Russia has gradually adapted to this change and found a new position. Echoing all the various proposals put forward by China is also a manifestation of this change in dominance.
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