On Wednesday, China’s president Xi Jinping welcomed Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, to Beijing for a two-day diplomatic trip.
Xi called relations between those two nations “precious” in light of what he called international chaos, which is likely a reference to the joint U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran.
Besides equipping Iran's military, China is also dependent on Iran's oil. Some estimates say 90% of Iran's oil exports go to China, and now those tankers are being turned back to port by a U.S. Navy blockade.
Xi met with Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, after the Chinese president met with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, last fall.
Regarding that China-Russia meeting, national security analyst Bob Maginnis told AFN his warning since Epic Fury began is the war is bringing China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea closer together.
“I think the byproduct of the current war against Iran,” he warned, “is just making that relationship tighter and creating a far more polarized, multipolar world.”
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and China were united by Communism but remained rivals and even fought over a shared border in the 1960s. That relationship changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991, when Russia and China became global partners.
Back in 2019, Putin and Xi signed a formal “Strategic Partnership” in Moscow that described a “New Era” and was viewed as a military and economic pact.
Going back to Xi’s words to reporters, Maginnis said the word “precious” stands out because that’s more than just a one-word description.
“That is significant,” he said. “That should be notable as this alliance becomes far more than just a couple of words.”
Victor Davis Hanson, the historian and political analyst, has said the strategy of the Trump administration seems to be a long-term plan to isolate and weaken China and Russia, but especially China, on the world stage.
That strategy began with Venezuela, Hanson said, when the U.S. nabbed its president and now controls its oil exports. That strategy also includes ending the Castro regime in Cuba.
All of those actions push back China's influence in the Western Hemisphere, he said.
