Without including a condemnation of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, a statement by Macron and Xi urge the “return of peace” in Kiev

Without including a condemnation of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, a statement by Macron and Xi urge the “return of peace” in Kiev

    Friday, April 07, 2023   No comments

Without including a condemnation of Russia's military operation in Ukraine, a statement by Macron and Xi urge the “return of peace” in Kiev

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged in a joint declaration on Friday to "support all efforts aimed at restoring peace to Ukraine."

The joint declaration was issued at the end of the French President's visit to China.

The declaration stressed that the two countries “oppose armed attacks on nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear facilities” and support the efforts of the International Atomic Energy Agency “to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.”

The text did not mention Russia, nor did it include a condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine.

The joint declaration stressed the “importance” that “all parties to the conflict” respect international humanitarian law “strictly”.

On Thursday, the French president urged his Chinese counterpart to "bring Russia back to its senses" with regard to Ukraine, and implored him not to supply Moscow with weapons, in a meeting at which the two presidents called for peace talks.

According to Paris, the Chinese president expressed, during his meeting with Macron, his readiness to contact Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the appropriate time.

None of the Chinese reports or the French-Chinese joint declaration mentioned this initiative.

In February, Beijing published a 12-point document urging Moscow and Kiev to enter into peace negotiations.

China did not recognize Moscow's unilateral annexation of four Ukrainian regions to the Russian Federation in September, nor did it recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

China's time to become a global powerhouse is now, how will it manage its new role?

China's time to become a global powerhouse is now, how will it manage its new role?

    Wednesday, April 05, 2023   No comments

The West’s unlimited military support to Ukraine, its unbalanced Middle East relations, its ambiguous stance on the status of Taiwan, and its failure to honor its nuclear deal with Iran are propelling China to become a global leader. These three news stories should make the case for the role China will play in this decade.

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How China sees the expansion of NATO? 

This editorial in a Chinese media outlet close to the ruling class of China provides the answer.

 Finland joins NATO; Europe's overall security landscape more 'precarious'

With a Finnish flag rising first time outside the NATO headquarters, the Nordic nation officially became NATO's 31st member country at a meeting of the US-led bloc's foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on Tuesday in Brussels, a historic shift away from the Nordic nation's traditional policy of neutrality, which Chinese experts believe now pushes Finland to the forefront against Russia and may spur Moscow to boost its nuclear deployment, thus making Europe's overall security landscape even more precarious.

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Political division in Taiwan regarding the position of Beijing and Washington

While Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen was visiting the United States, her predecessor Ma Ying-jeou was in China, where the country's two main parties were debating which superpower would side with her.

 

During a long overseas trip to the United States, the Taiwanese president delivered a consistent and blunt message about countering Chinese threats: Taiwan needs the United States to be supportive, the newspaper reported.

 

But while she was garnering American support, her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, was working on a very different agenda, and is currently on a tour of China, the first former president to ever make such a visit, according to the newspaper.

 

She noted that the symbolism of Ma Ying-jeou's visit to China was "amazing" and stood in stark contrast to Tsai's travels.

 

"Strongly echoing the rhetoric used by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ma Jiu invoked the memory of China's past humiliation at the hands of foreign invaders, during a visit last week to the mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China who overthrew the last emperor in 1911," she added.

 

Speaking of a delegation of Taiwanese youths he was accompanying, Ma Jiu said that they "will strive peacefully to revitalize the relationship with China, and sincerely hope that the two sides of the Strait will make joint efforts to achieve peace and prevent war."

 

According to the newspaper, the conflicting flights indicate that the question of Taiwan's belonging in the world may reach a point of crisis, amid the most intense hostility between China and the United States.

 

Earlier in the day, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration in Fujian announced that military authorities had begun patrolling the Taiwan Strait, following reports of a meeting between Taiwan's President and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

 

And Tsai arrived, on Tuesday evening, in Los Angeles, USA, to hold this meeting, after a diplomatic tour in Central America.

 

McCarthy had planned to follow the example of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who visited Taiwan last August, angering China.

 

Yesterday, Chinese diplomacy saw that the meeting between the two parties would "cause more damage" to relations between Beijing and Washington.

 

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Macron: China can play a major role in achieving peace in Ukraine

 

French President Emmanuel Macron said today, Wednesday, at the start of a three-day state visit to China that Beijing can "play a major role" in finding a "path leading to peace" in Ukraine.

 

Macron told the French community in the Chinese capital: "China has proposed a peace plan, thus showing a will to take responsibility and try to forge a path leading to peace."

 

Macron added, "This war has trampled many of the principles of the United Nations Charter, which we, as members of the Security Council, must firmly defend."

He continued, "I see that defending it also means progressing together, and trying to find a path that leads to peace."

 

Last February, China proposed its plan for peace in Ukraine, which consists of 12 clauses that include calls for a cease-fire, respect for the legitimate interests of all countries in the field of security, and a settlement of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

 

It is noteworthy that French President Emmanuel Macron arrived, today, Wednesday, in China for a 3-day visit, according to what was announced by the Elysee Palace, on his first trip to this country since 2019.

 

Macron will hold talks, tomorrow, Thursday, with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will participate in part, and will move to Canton in southern China on Friday.

 

Before leaving for China, the French President held a telephone conversation with his American counterpart, Joe Biden. During which they expressed their hope that "China will engage in joint efforts to accelerate an end to the war in Ukraine and establish a sustainable peace," according to French officials.

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Reuters: The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing tomorrow

An Iranian official and a Saudi-owned newspaper reported that the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing tomorrow, as the two regional powers seek to arrange the next steps for their diplomatic rapprochement, under a Chinese-brokered deal.

 "The two chief envoys agreed to meet on April 6 in Beijing, because China facilitated the agreement," a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

   

The Garden of Prosperity Today

The Garden of Prosperity Today

    Thursday, March 16, 2023   No comments

Scenes not from the jungle; from the garden of prosperity; Paris today:

Russia’s former president reviews news about the attack on Nord Stream as a bad movie: made people feel as if they ate pork knuckle with beer

Russia’s former president reviews news about the attack on Nord Stream as a bad movie: made people feel as if they ate pork knuckle with beer

    Thursday, March 09, 2023   No comments

Days after China made fun of Western intelligence revelation about the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, Russia’s former president reviews news about the attack on Nord Stream as a bad movie: made people feel as if they ate pork knuckle with beer.

Here is his biting review of the event translated:

For the third day, another epic drama from Hollywood is unfolding before our eyes. The sequel to the film, which was dedicated to Saddam's chemical weapons with a demonstration of test tubes at the UN.

The world, opening its mouth and experiencing a slight gag reflex, looks at the numerous bowel movements of the Western media about “who did blow up the Nord Streams after all.” And really: who framed Roger Rabbit?

 

It turns out that the whole thing is in some unknown “pro-Ukrainian group”. Which (it is especially emphasized) is in no way, well, absolutely, absolutely, not a single wire and switch is connected either with Bandera Kiev, or with Europe zombified by gynecologists, or with America plunged into senile insanity, or with the other Western world that has fallen ill with Russophobic hysteria. Just lone heroes who have come to grips with the damned Muscovites! The new salvation of the world by some inglorious bastards.

It turns out so-so - the actors are mediocre. Obviously not at the level of Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz. And the director is not the level of Quentin Tarantino. Very poor casting and camera. The script is just boring shit. Stupid American propaganda. Nobody likes it. Even the European inhabitants poisoned by it do not believe. They feel sick, as if they ate pork knuckle with beer.

 

As the American beacons of freedom of speech and the vassal German mass media who joined them write, the mysterious divers (no other than in black balaclavas over wetsuits) were “citizens of Ukraine or Russia.” At the same time, they have nothing to do with the Kyiv regime. Especially with the free world.

In general, from no state, here! Citizens of the world. Just fighters with Muscovy. Loners-schizophrenics, such as initiators. The layman is offered a bunch of cheap special effects. Like, six hardened saboteurs, among whom even one fatal woman, femme fatale (and how without her in the film?), Went out on a yacht into the stormy Baltic Sea. They took on board half a ton of explosives, dived beautifully. And then how two huge pipes at the bottom would blow up! And they went into the sunset. Unnoticed. At sea, full of NATO ships and international tracking systems. They also returned the yacht to the owner, cool, but law-abiding!

 

Here is such a frank low-rated shnyaga category B.

 

Actually, the film failed immediately after the premiere. Western viewers do not believe it: they ask uncomfortable questions, why did the old version about the “Russian trace” suddenly begin to turn 180 degrees (or 360, as Granny Burbock thinks?).

And why is it necessary to excuse the Kiev regime so actively, defending its innocence and innocence with foam at the mouth?

The answers are quite understandable, given the current mood of Europeans, who are less and less pleased with the prospect of paying out of pocket for ever new packages of sanctions, arms supplies to Ukraine, an energy crisis and falling living standards in once prosperous countries.

 And if the Ukrainian Nazis, and not Russia at all, blew up the gas pipelines, what is the point of supporting them with fire, sword and money transfers? To fool the brains of Europeans, it seems that this whole cheap film was created.

 I wonder if the action movie will have a sequel? With a plot like this: the same heroes, led by the Polish cannibal Duda, who escaped from a psychiatric hospital, penetrate the bunker of the brave President Ze, who has sniffed white powder. They take him hostage and then accidentally strangle him. For it is not a pity and tired. And then the zombie apocalypse begins in the manner of The last of us.

Wait, stock up on popcorn.

 

Beijing submits a peace plan proposal as a public position for the conflcit between Russia and Ukraine

Beijing submits a peace plan proposal as a public position for the conflcit between Russia and Ukraine

    Friday, February 24, 2023   No comments

Media coverage of the Chinese proposal related to the military conflict in Ukraine is different depending on the source and its connection to the political systems. Here, a fact-driven, sourced summary is presented to serious readers who wish to understand, not take side.

With increased pressure on China to stop "thinking about" providing Russia with lethal weapons, China chose instead to propose a road map for ending the conflict. There are many legitimate questions as to the timing of the proposal and the increased pressure on China and other countries to take public stance about the conflict. A summary of the Chinese proposal as explained by Chinese officials and Chinese media is provided here along with some references for context.

In a 12-point position paper dubbed "China's Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis," issued on Friday morning, the Chinese Foreign Ministry called for ceasing hostilities and resuming peace talks, stopping unilateral sanctions and abandoning the Cold War mentality.

It also called for respecting the sovereignty of all countries and expressed opposition to the use of nuclear weapons. 

Chinese experts said the document should be viewed as a blueprint that has made China's principles clear for resolving the crisis and pointed out the basic path to achieve it constructively.

Although the document reflects China's position as a peacemaker and negotiation facilitator, as well as China's great sincerity in global governance, experts suggested that the course of the conflict largely depends on the willingness of both sides to resolve the conflict peacefully. And the atmosphere and willingness to negotiate are seemingly still far from being mature given the US and NATO's interference. 

Beijing called for stopping military operations in Ukraine, starting a negotiation process, and resuming direct dialogue as soon as possible.

Today, Friday, in a statement coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry considered that "it is necessary to cease-fire and military operations," calling on "all parties to maintain rationality and restraint and avoid further aggravation of the Ukrainian crisis or even It's out of control."

The statement indicated that it was necessary to "support Russia and Ukraine in moving towards each other to resume direct dialogue as soon as possible."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry stressed that "dialogue and negotiations are the only possible way to solve the Ukrainian crisis," adding: "The international community should create conditions and provide a platform for the resumption of negotiations. China is ready to continue to play a constructive role in this regard."

China considered it important to abandon "unilateral sanctions and pressure, as it will not solve the problem and will create new problems."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry called for "reducing strategic risks" and stressed "resistance to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons."

This statement was preceded by an announcement in which China said that it would submit a proposal this week to reach a political solution to end the war, which has been going on for nearly a year.

It is noteworthy that China has called on the United States more than once to settle the Ukrainian crisis politically instead of fueling it, and also called for an end to the war in Ukraine, and confirmed that its relationship with Russia is not against anyone.

In the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, the head of the German Foreign Intelligence Service, Bruno Kahl, saw yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "currently interested in ending the conflict on the battlefield," while the Kremlin previously ruled out resuming talks with Kiev, especially after the latter passed a law. It stipulates that no negotiations with Russia should continue.

Likewise, the Kremlin accused Kiev of withdrawing from peace negotiations with Moscow last March on orders from Washington, and stressed at the same time that "Russia does not give up the possibility of negotiations with Ukraine, but postponing negotiations makes it difficult to agree."

Negotiations took place between Moscow and Kiev after the Russian military operation in Ukraine to end it. The foreign ministers of the two countries also met last March in Turkey without reaching substantial results. Since the negotiations faltered, the two sides exchanged accusations of causing this stalemate.

Updade (to reflect Russsia's reaction):

The Russian Foreign Ministry welcomed China's sincere desire to contribute to the settlement in Ukraine through peaceful means, and expressed Moscow's share with Beijing's vision for a settlement.

And the Russian Foreign Ministry statement said: "We share Beijing's proposal for a settlement, and we are committed to respecting the United Nations Charter, international and humanitarian law, and comprehensive security, in a way that does not enhance the security of one country at the expense of another country, or one group of countries at the expense of another."

She added, "We, along with China, see any restrictions imposed outside the scope of the UN Security Council as illegitimate, and a tool in unequal competition and economic warfare."

The Foreign Ministry affirmed that "Moscow is open to achieving the goals of the military operation through political and diplomatic means."

References:

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Western Media Review: After the Ukraine war, the West has become more isolated

Western Media Review: After the Ukraine war, the West has become more isolated

    Thursday, February 23, 2023   No comments

A year after the war in Ukraine, the West has never been more isolated, Politico reported Thursday.

The newspaper said, "The war in Ukraine accelerated the development of a post-Western world, and given current trends, it seems that this world may be more united, but also more isolated from the rest."

She added, "A year after the war in Ukraine, European and American governments defied critics with an extraordinary display of unity," asking: "But has this internal cohesion been achieved at the expense of external influence?"

This is the main question explored in a new survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations and the Europe in a Changing World project at Oxford University, which covers public opinion from 10 European countries and five from other regions of the world.

According to the results of the survey, while the war brought the West closer together, it also revealed a gap between the West's perception of Russia and the war, and the perception of other countries, and part of this gap comes from radically different perceptions of the state of the world.

Citizens from Europe and non-Western countries share the same conviction that the US-led liberal order is over, but their understanding of what kind of order will come next differs sharply, according to the survey.

He also revealed that many in the West believe, through the legacy of the Cold War, that we are entering a bipolar world dominated by the United States and China, but in other parts of the world, they do not believe this division. The fundamental reason for this is that from the perspective of those in China, Turkey or Russia, we are entering a multipolar world between many centers of power, not a bipolar one.

In other words, the citizens of these countries believe that fragmentation into different systems will determine the future. In this scenario, the entire West would be just one center of power among many others, which would not single-handedly define order and lead global democracy.

According to the newspaper, the most fundamental reason for this view is that people in non-Western major powers now tend to believe that they also represent a real democracy. % of Indians, 36% of Turks, and 20% of Russians.

The newspaper pointed out that with Western governments anticipating the return of the Cold War-type bipolarity between democracy and tyranny, they often tend to view countries such as India and Turkey as swing states that can be persuaded to take sides, pointing out that "these countries see themselves completely differently, As emerging great powers, they may side with the West on some issues, but not on everything.

She also reported that "the ability of the West to work alongside those international partners who have a different understanding of the conflict will have an important impact on the outcome of the war, as well as on the shape of geopolitics," noting that "it takes humility to see countries like India, Brazil and Turkey as partners." In shaping the future system, not as players being moved to the right side of history."