The Sino-Russo Entente will either finally evolve into a de facto alliance on equal terms like many in the Alt-Media Community mistakenly assumed was already the case or Russia will likely reach a series of (potentially painful) mutual compromises with the US.
Russia’s global media flagship RT just published unprecedented criticism of China ahead of Putin’s trip there less than a week after Trump’s. Titled “Beijing can no longer treat Moscow as a junior partner”, Alexey Martynov began by declaring that “Moscow has largely accepted the logic of deep strategic interdependence (with China). Beijing, by contrast, still behaves as though it can preserve a carefully managed partnership in which China remains the senior partner while minimizing its own obligations.”
He added that “Brussels think tanks, Washington analysts and even many Chinese commentators have repeated the same formula: Russia supplies raw materials and China supplies everything else.” According to him, the more than $200 billion in announced joint Russian-Chinese projects “remain only partially implemented as Chinese businesses continue to calculate the costs of sanctions exposure carefully. Beijing has often preferred opportunistic gains over genuine strategic interdependence.”
Martynov then repeated what he said in the introduction about how “China still often behaves as though it can enjoy the benefits of strategic partnership without fully committing itself to the burdens that come with it. Moscow has already integrated Beijing deeply into critical sectors ranging from energy to logistics and food security. But many major Chinese investments and technology commitments continue to move cautiously or remain delayed.” He then concluded his article on an ominous note.
In his words, “At some point, Beijing will have to decide whether it truly views Russia as an equal strategic partner or merely as a useful resource base operating on China’s periphery. That question now defines the future of the partnership and the answer will shape the architecture of Eurasia for decades to come.” Interspersed between the unprecedented criticism of China that he just shared on Russian media, however, were arguments about why they might soon clinch a de facto alliance on equal terms.
They basically boil down to the US’ simultaneous pressure campaign against both of them backfiring but are implicitly dependent on China not clinching a major deal with the US like Trump wants. Therefore, one of two game-changing scenarios is increasingly likely by this summer: the Sino–RussoEntente finally evolves into a de facto alliance on equal terms like many in the Alt-Media Community mistakenly assumed was already the case or Russia reaches a series of mutual compromises with the US.
About the second scenario, Russian hardliners might then blame any potentially painful compromises on China’s rejection of Putin’s expectedly proposed de facto alliance that would have equalized their lopsided relations as Martynov portrayed them as presently being with RT’s editorial approval. In fact, given the subject’s sensitivity, especially in the global context of Putin’s trip to China, it’s possible that the Presidential Administration first had to approve this piece and might have even commissioned it.
Speculation aside, there’s no denying that Russia’s global media flagship just published unprecedented criticism of China that shattered the Alt-Media Community’s long-running portrayal of their country’s relations with China, which sets them up for one of two game-changing scenarios. As was forecast here ahead of Trump’s and Putin’s meetings with Xi, he’ll ultimately decide the contours of the emerging world order, which will either see China de facto allying with Russia or forever abandoning this option.
