Since Xi Jinping and Joe Biden refused to back down on their conflicting views on the conflict during a two-hour telephone conversation on March 18, Chinese diplomats have launched a rhetorical offensive, arguing that US-led alliances are equally a threat to Beijing. as it is in Moscow. Much of their anger is directed at the “free and open Indo-Pacific” strategy inherited by Biden from Donald Trump, which seeks to bind the United States, Japan, Australia and India to a united front against China. “NATO has continued to strengthen and expand and has intervened militarily in countries such as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan,” said Le Youseng, the deputy foreign minister, a day after the presidents were summoned. “The Indo-Pacific strategy is as dangerous as NATO’s strategy of expanding eastward into Europe,” he added. “If left unchecked, it would have unimaginable consequences and would ultimately push Asia-Pacific [region] over the edge of an abyss “. Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi greet media ahead of their March 25 meeting in New Delhi © Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar / Twitter / AP In a bid to counter Biden’s “real goal” of creating “an Indo-Pacific version of NATO,” Le’s boss, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, met with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi on Friday. On Tuesday, Wang spoke to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Islamabad, where he mentioned $ 400 billion in Chinese-led projects in 54 Islamic countries. China, India and Pakistan, which have a combined population of 3 billion, have abstained from a UN resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Alicia García Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at French investment bank Natixis, said that as the crisis in Ukraine brought the US and the EU closer together, China sought to complement its Russian partnership with stronger economic and diplomatic ties. countries around the developing world. and resource-rich nations in the Middle East. As the US and the EU try to push China into a corner, he said, “China has taken and widened that corner. . . China is building this sphere of influence that makes it autonomous [strategy] much more reliable “. Ni Lexiong, an independent military analyst in Shanghai, said China should take a long-term perspective when making assessments of the situation in Ukraine and its relationship with Russia. “If we do not do it [handle the Ukraine crisis] “Right, in 30 years from now, the West will treat China the same way it treats Russia.” Chinese officials are increasingly concerned that such treatment could include extensive sanctions similar to those imposed by the US and the EU on Russia. In that case, they argued, China would need Russia’s support as much as Russia now needs China’s support. Hu Xinjiang, a former editor of the Chinese nationalist newspaper Global Times, said Xi’s “unlimited” cooperation with Putin would serve China well in any “strategic confrontation” with the United States over Taiwan or a similar flashpoint. “With Russia as a partner, if the US exerts maximum strategic coercion against China, China will not be afraid. [a] “The US energy blockade and our food supply will be secure,” he wrote in a recent column. “It simply came to our notice then [our supply of] other raw materials “We must continue to strengthen our forces to make the United States feel that the conflict with China is becoming more and more intolerable. “Russia is China’s most critical partner in achieving this goal.” Russia, however, will do little to help China secure supplies of high-tech components vital to its vast construction base, such as semiconductors, as well as the mainly Western machinery and software needed to build them. Dan Wang of Gavekal Dragonomics, a Beijing-based consulting firm, said that if China ever faced sanctions similar to those imposed on Russia, “it would be disastrous for China’s ability to remain a constructive superpower.”

As a result, according to Andrew Gilholm of Control Risks, a consulting firm, Xi should seek “disconnection on Chinese terms.” This will mean securing, with the help of Russia, food and energy supplies, while avoiding US sanctions on technology, economics and other areas where it is still dependent on the West. “The idea has always been to build China’s diversification and autonomy as quickly as possible,” Gilholm said. But after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “the motivation has gone to another level: this must now be seen almost as a matter of national security, and even an existential one.” China lifted phytosanitary restrictions on Russian wheat exports on February 24, the same day that Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, and can now congratulate itself on resisting US demands for agricultural reform during trade war between the two countries in 2018. 19. “Beijing probably feels very validated in its approach,” Darin Friedrichs told Sitonia Consulting, an agricultural consulting firm in Shanghai. “They have maintained a high level of state control and reserves. “And now, while many other countries are struggling for supplies, they are relatively isolated,” he added. “These policies were quite successful and were intended for an era like this.” Additional report by Emma Zhou in Beijing