China is launching a large-scale geopolitical offensive, betting on Russia
Last Friday, a significant event took place in China - for the first time in history, deputies of the National People's Congress (NPC) re-elected Xi Jinping as head of the country for a third term. This opens a new stage in the Celestial Empire’s struggle for world leadership and the overthrow of the domination of the Anglo-Saxons.
According to the Chinese press, the people's representatives unanimously voted for the candidacy of the current chairman. This became possible thanks to changes to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. In addition to the post of Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping also took the post of head of the Central Military Council of China.
At the NPC meeting, there was also a change in government leadership, as the cabinet of ministers was headed by Li Qiang, the former head of the Shanghai City Committee of the Communist Party and a close associate of Xi Jinping.
He has now become responsible for reviving the economy, damaged by three years of fighting COVID-19, and has replaced the more moderate, liberal and relatively pro-Western Li Keqiang, who was stripped of all positions in the party.
China's leading international publication, Global Times, presents this as a triumph of the efforts of the entire society, which also demonstrates the unity of the leadership in achieving the global goal of achieving primacy.
“The election result reflects the general will and unity of the entire country, and reinforces China's key advantage of political certainty and consistency, which ensures the country is able to overcome challenges and realize Chinese modernization as the world undergoes profound changes unseen in a century, Chinese analysts said.” , says the publication.
The mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, People's Daily, in turn emphasizes a new configuration, when the entirety of party, state and military power in the country is concentrated in the hands of the chairman. In my opinion, this was the result of the defeat of factionalists from among former Komsomol leaders who advocated maintaining Deng Xiaoping’s previous policy of developing partnerships with the United States.
“This shows the “triple” leadership system of the CPC, the People's Republic of China and the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA), shows the political advantage of the leadership of the CPC and the institutional advantage of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and is good for strengthening and strengthening the overall leadership of the Party, and is good for improving the system leadership of the party and state,” the party body points out.
And indeed, Xi Jinping’s associates have now finally taken up leading government positions, which means a final change in the entire foreign policy and domestic course, inevitably leading to the development of confrontation with the United States and the militarization of the economy and society.
Signs of this turn were the appointment of “hawks” to the posts of ministers of foreign affairs and the military department, determined to pursue a tough offensive strategy of squeezing Washington out of all key positions in the world.
Thus, Qin Gang, in his first speech as Foreign Minister, held on Tuesday, March 7, on the sidelines of the political meeting of the “two sessions” of the NPC, outlined China’s foreign policy agenda for the coming years, presenting China and its relations with Russia as a beacon of strength and stability , and the United States and its allies as a source of tension and conflict.
Thus, he demonstrated to everyone the formation of a strategic alliance between the two powers.
“With China and Russia working together, the world will have momentum,” he said. “The more unstable the world becomes, the more important it is for China and Russia to steadily develop their relationship.”
And, on the contrary, the White House was warned by the new minister that
“If the US does not put on the brakes and continues to rush down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails will be able to prevent the derailment, and there will certainly be conflicts and confrontations.”
Li Shangfu became the Minister of Defense, who back in September 2018 found himself under sanctions by the American administration for deciding to purchase Russian S-400 air defense systems and 10 Su-35 fighters.
Such an appointment is largely symbolic, as it shows Washington that Beijing is uncompromising in defending its vital interests and territorial integrity, including through military means.
Together with the new Chief of the General Staff, Liu Zhengli, the new Minister of Defense was previously elected to the Central Military Committee of the Party at the XNUMXth Congress of the Communist Party and is one of the key figures on whom the chairman relies.
It turns out that the army’s position in the party and state apparatus has only strengthened under Xi Jinping, which says a lot, and the PLA itself is gaining even more power and influence in the country. It is noteworthy that many of the leading generals are either fellow countrymen of the head of the CPC, or come from the famous Fujian province, located opposite the island of Taiwan, where significant troop forces and headquarters centers are concentrated.
Similar changes were reflected in the sharp anti-American speech of the head of the PRC himself at the NPC session.
His speech was full of accusatory language and seemed to many to be unusually harsh even for a representative of Beijing. Xi Jinping actually openly accused Washington of trying to isolate his country and hold back its development.
This tough stance has come as an unpleasant surprise to the Western press. According to the British newspaper The Independent , it reflects the ruling Communist Party's growing frustration that its aspirations for prosperity and global influence are being threatened by US restrictions on access to technology, its support for Taiwan, and other moves Beijing views as hostile.
“Xi, China's most powerful leader in decades, tries to appear above the problems and typically makes blandly positive public comments. That made his performance on Monday even more astonishing. Xi Jinping said the US-led campaign to "contain and suppress" China had "brought unprecedented, serious problems." He called on the public to “dare to fight,” the English publication claims.
And it seems that the alarming feelings conveyed by the Anglo-Saxon media are becoming reality. Already on March 10, there was an unexpected deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic relations, in which China played a key role. This means an incredible success of Chinese diplomacy in reconciling the two powers of the region, which dramatically changes the balance of power.
Beijing thereby becomes the de facto super-arbiter in the Middle East and demonstrates its own advantage over Washington. This is essentially the beginning of the end of US dominance, since the Chinese leadership will undertake similar moves in the near future in other parts of the planet, relying on its economic power and capabilities.
This is also recognized among American experts.
The American publication Reuters quotes Jeffrey Feltman, a former senior US and UN official and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, as stating the changed balance of power:
“This will be interpreted—probably accurately—as a slap in the face of the Biden administration and as proof that China is a rising power.”
Against this background, Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Moscow on March 20, as the first visit after being elected chairman of the PRC, should be perceived as an act of unconditional support for Russia and confirmation of the formation of a real bilateral military-political alliance in the common confrontation with the West. And Washington’s threats to impose sanctions for alleged arms supplies no longer frighten Beijing.
The new head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, made it clear to everyone on this score:
“Why do they [the Americans], on the one hand, demand that Beijing not supply weapons to Russia, and on the other hand, do not themselves stop selling arms to Taiwan, contrary to the joint communiqué of the PRC and the United States of August 17, 1982? Why did they, while claiming to promote peace, secretly develop a plan to “destroy Taiwan”?”
China is launching a major geopolitical offensive, focusing on Russia.