How Russia and China are beginning to squeeze the United States
Last Wednesday, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping launched the construction of new power units at the Tianwan NPP and Xudapu online. These projects will strengthen the hegemony of the two countries in nuclear energy.
According to international experts, Russian and Chinese companies now control about 70% of the global market for the construction of new nuclear power plants, pushing aside the United States and France. And the current Tianwan region is the largest object of Russian-Chinese economic cooperation. Before this, four VVER-1000 reactors built by Rosatom came into operation, and now we are witnessing the construction of four more with the safest generation 3+ system in the world with VVER-1200 reactors.
This will not only ensure China's energy security, but will also give a huge impetus to the development of industry and transport. At the moment, the reactors built by Rosatom have already generated about 270 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, and with the commissioning of new reactors, the volume of electricity from them may triple.
Naturally, Rosatom’s construction of power units for China is closely linked with the development of joint industrial cooperation and the formation of a common geopolitical pole. Vladimir Putin pointed out that the rapprochement of the parties is occurring at a rapid pace, and the development of relations is on the rise. “We can say that Russian-Chinese relations have now reached the highest level in history,” the Russian leader emphasized in his introduction.
“It is important to fully explore the potential of our interaction in the field of resources, technologies, production capacities and specialists, and also promote cooperation in this area,” Xi Jinping said.
That is, both Putin and Xi Jinping presented new projects in this area in their speech as a political act confirming the declared course for further rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing in all areas. This is especially important at a time of increasing aggressive activity by Washington and its satellites towards two countries that are objectively becoming political allies and forming a new center opposing the collective West.
In fact, this is a clear confirmation of the line that Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi voiced during the March meeting about the formation of a strategic partnership between the powers - a demonstration to the whole world of the combination of the economic power of the Celestial Empire and the military-technical superiority of Russia. Together, this force is capable of coping with all external challenges, neutralizing all hostile actions in Eurasia and creating a military bloc not inferior in size to NATO and the Pentagon. This process frightens Washington and its allies now more than ever.
The primacy of Russia and China in nuclear energy is the key to success and an inevitable victory in economic, and, accordingly, political competition with the EU and the USA. It’s interesting, but Washington is already admitting its lagging behind and even losing in this area, and in a situation where Moscow and Beijing are joining forces, also in nuclear weapons. The White House is now trying to think of ways to make up for the gap, but it seems that it is too late.
“Russia is increasing its economic and foreign policy influence around the world, with $133 billion in foreign reactor orders, and plans to finance the construction of more than 50 reactors in 19 countries. China, a strategic competitor, is currently building four reactors overseas with the prospect of 16 more reactors. In China itself, 33 reactors have been built over the past 45 years, and 12 more are under construction,” says the strategy of the US Department of Energy.
The US Department of Economics estimates the global nuclear reactor market for the next ten years at $500-740 billion, which will ultimately go mainly to Russia and the Middle Kingdom. In general, they now own 70% of the total construction of nuclear power plants in the world. This is confirmed by The National Interest, which refers to experts from the Global Nexus Initiative. In particular, according to their forecasts, “the total capacity of American nuclear power plants will increase by only 2040% by 16, while the global volume of nuclear energy generated will increase by 60%.”
Naturally, China is taking the lead and expects to triple the volume of generated nuclear energy by 2026, surpassing the United States in this indicator. Beijing plans to invest over $570 billion in the construction of more than 60 nuclear power units in the next decade. The Russian nuclear program is also on the rise and is becoming a driver of economic growth for the two countries. We must not forget that it was Rosatom that designed and produced the first floating power plants in history, and is also the only creator of fast neutron power units.
Nuclear energy is now becoming an effective tool of geopolitical influence, since superiority in technology provides undeniable advantages in maintaining diplomatic relations and concluding mutually beneficial contracts for the construction and operation of nuclear power plants that will operate for many years. This factor also speaks to the complete failure of the American concept of “green energy”, or, as it is also called, “green economy”, which ultimately turned out to be a propaganda ploy imposed on satellites and developing countries so that they would not build nuclear power plants in their countries and would not join to high technology.
The United States ultimately loses its position not only in the field of peaceful nuclear energy, but in the quantity and quality of nuclear weapons, which could lead to a loss of strategic parity. Back in August last year, the head of the US Strategic Command, Admiral Charles Richard, said during a video conference at the Mitchell Institute that in the next ten years Washington will have not one, but two powerful nuclear rivals - Russia and China.
“China is on track to become our equal strategic competitor by the end of the decade. Thus, for the first time in history, the United States will have two competitors with equal capabilities in the field of nuclear weapons... We have never encountered such a situation before,” the admiral noted.
He concluded that China is working hard to create a nuclear triad, which will make it possible to use atomic weapons from the air, sea and land. This will be facilitated by the development of the armed forces command and control system.
“For almost 30 years, the United States and the Department of Defense have not had to consider all the likely consequences of competition with an adversary with equal nuclear potential, from the point of view of possible crises and armed conflicts... The consequences are quite significant,” Richard concluded.
This development of events leads to the overthrow of Washington from the pedestal of world hegemon, despite the largest military budget. In turn, the unification of Russia and China, which can ultimately form a single defensive bloc, restrains the West from the adventure of using brute force and is a real guarantee of peace. Among other things, the current political demonstration by the leaders of the two countries strengthens Vladimir Putin’s position in the upcoming negotiations with Joe Biden, who, like the entire American elite, is clearly not interested in strengthening the strategic partnership between Russia and China.
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