Who’s Driving the Train?

Commentary

In one of the most incredibly myopic public statements in American political history, U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby commented on the recently concluded summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Kirby claimed that the meeting was “a manifestation of how much China and Russia know that American leadership on the world stage is back.” He further claimed that the China–Russia alliance is merely “a marriage of convenience, certainly not one of affection.”

Given the facts and evidence unfolding before our very eyes, this statement is wishful thinking naivete on a par with other unbelievable statements from the White House over the last two years (“the inflation is transitory” line is a good example).

Perhaps Xi and Putin have other ideas; after all, they do get a vote on what’s reality and what’s farce. Let us examine the topic.

American Leadership Fades

How would Kirby spin the following U.S. retreats (strategic debacles) on the world scene in two years of the Biden administration?

• The Biden administration has committed to a legally binding agreement that will give the World Health Organization (WHO) “the authority to dictate America’s policies during a pandemic,” as reported by The Epoch Times. How is giving up U.S. sovereignty to foreigners a demonstration of U.S. world leadership?
• Then there was the Biden administration helplessly standing by and watching the communist Chinese facilitate a rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Losing geopolitical leverage to the Chinese in the Middle East is more U.S. world leadership?
• How about the gifting of Afghanistan’s natural resources to China? Afghanistan holds lithium deposits estimated to be reportedly worth between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. China will be delighted to exploit those deposits to retain world leadership in the production of green technology (i.e., electric vehicles, batteries, and solar panels) for export to the United States. The debacle of the U.S. withdrawal itself probably helped convince Putin to launch the Russian invasion of Ukraine, too.
• The Biden administration failed to deter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Somehow, Putin chose not to invade Ukraine on President Donald Trump’s watch. There was ample warning of the Russian buildup, but direct diplomatic efforts (threats?) were insufficient to prevent the invasion.

American citizens don’t seem to think that “America is back,” either. According to a Wall Street Journal poll reported on March 24, 78 percent of Americans said they don’t feel confident that their children’s generation will be better off than their own, which is the highest that number has been since the survey started in 1990. That pessimism on the home front is focused on inflation and other woes associated with the U.S. economy. A weak U.S. economy translates directly into a projection of American weakness to the rest of the world and a lack of confidence in American leadership.

It would appear that European leaders aren’t buying Kirby’s spin either and are alarmed about the strengthening China–Russia alliance. A headline in Politico on March 24 blared, “Xi Jinping’s blooming bromance with Vladimir Putin is freaking EU leaders out. Now they’re booking flights to Beijing.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and French President Emmanuel Macron are scheduled to pay Xi a visit soon. Other EU leaders are pushing for engagement with China, too.

What’s the Reality?

Xi and Putin made it crystal clear at the end of the Moscow summit on March 21.

“Right now there are changes—the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years—and we are the ones driving these changes together,’ Xi reportedly said.

Putin replied, “I agree.”

By all appearances, the Moscow summit kicked off phase 2 in the burgeoning Russia–China alliance.

The first phase, likely cemented when Putin visited Xi in Beijing on Feb. 4, 2022, set their joint strategy that precipitated Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine. In retrospect, what strategy did the two leaders cook up during that summit? Was China’s support for Russia’s invasion secured as part of a quid pro quo agreement that guaranteed Russia’s support for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan? Quite possibly. In any event, the result was Russian hydrocarbons on the cheap for China, and China’s silence about Russia’s clear violation of international law in invading Ukraine.

Did the phase 2 meeting in Moscow advance the People’s Liberation Army’s timetable for the invasion? Did Xi secure assurances of receiving Russian energy resources and diplomatic support from Putin for that invasion during the closed-door meeting in Moscow? Did they agree on coordinated operations that would distract the United States and NATO in eastern Europe, making the PLA’s cross-strait invasion more of a cakewalk?

Xi’s ruminations about “change not seen in 100 years” could prove prophetic. As noted by The Spectator in a March 22 analysis: “Xi was re-affirming their shared longer-term project to create a new international order, and both men see the Ukraine war as part of that project. Both regard western democracies as decadent and in decline and share a culture of grievance and victimhood and an almost messianic vision of restoring imperial greatness.”

And their strategic alliance is clearly aimed at shaking up the world and diminishing the United States in every respect.

Concluding Thoughts

Despite the wishful statement of Kirby that “U.S. world leadership is back” (an absurdity given the foreign policy and national security debacles that have already occurred during the Biden administration), it’s no secret that supplanting the U.S.-led liberal international order with a new world order “with Chinese characteristics” is a top goal of Xi Jinping. He has been telegraphing his plans to the world for a decade. The common thread among those plans is their globalist focus: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative. Xi wants to become the world’s hegemon before he dies. It’s becoming clearer that he has a strategic partner in Vladimir Putin.

Both leaders would almost certainly disagree with Kirby’s statement about American leadership. In fact, they probably laughed when they heard about it.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.