Russia-China Pursue Effort To Upend U.S. Led Global Order

With Russia visit, Xi pursues effort to upend U.S.-led global order

Lily Kuo, Meaghan Tobin

Fresh off a legislative congress where he cemented his vision for governing China, Xi Jinping turned to how he would create a better world order. It would be based on mutual respect, tolerance and equality — and China would be its natural leader, he told heads of political parties for an array of countries, including Russia and South Africa, Nicaragua and East Timor.

“Chinese-style modernization does not follow the old path of colonial plunder or the hegemony of strong countries,” Xi told them in a video call Wednesday, sitting at a desk surrounded by Chinese and Communist Party flags. 

“The world does not need another Cold War,” he said, announcing his new concept — the “global civilization initiative,” a set of lofty guiding principles for a “new type of international relations” that China is building.

Xi’s comments were a clear rebuke of the United States — and a reflection of the harder tack he is taking as he ramps up China’s diplomatic efforts with an expected visit to Russia. 

President Vladimir Putin said in December that he had invited Xi for a state visit in the spring. That trip could happen as soon as next week, Reuters reported Monday.

When asked whether Xi is planning a visit to Russia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday he did not have any information he could share “at the moment.” “China and Russia have maintained close communication on all levels,” he said.

Xi is expected to have a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after that trip, according to the Wall Street Journal. It would be their first conversation since the war began. 

This comes after China brokered an agreement to resume diplomatic ties between longtime rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran after a series of secret meetings held in Beijing, an announcement that surprised the Biden administration. On Monday, President Biden said he expected to have a call with Xi soon.

The image of China as a peacemaker and arbiter gives Xi a further boost. Newly empowered in his precedent-breaking third term, he is trying to counter what he sees as an American effort to contain Beijing by proposing an alternative global system that accommodates Chinese interests. 

Under Beijing’s leadership, he says, countries would not need to choose sides in a battle between autocracy and democracy.

“China realizes it needs to create something new. It needs to create new space for China that redefines China’s role in the world and hopefully redefines the world system,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, D.C.

As Washington and other Western governments criticize Beijing over its “no limits” partnership with Russia and continued threats against Taiwan, China has tried to argue that it is on the side of peace, that it is the United States and its allies who are destabilizing Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

China’s Xi promises to build ‘great wall of steel’ in rivalry with West

Its latest initiative and outreach is a key part of that. 

“What China is trying to signal is that the world is not dependent on the U.S. and its allies and partners,” said Chong Ja Ian, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore. “China is trying to be a full-spectrum global player and demonstrate that it too can provide public goods.”

After a government overhaul and leadership reshuffle that gives him even more control over decision-making, Xi is in a stronger position to pursue his goal of an international order more friendly to China.

Last week, he took the unusual step of directly accusing the United States of attempting to “contain, encircle and suppress” China. (In the past, senior leaders have tended to obliquely refer to “some countries.”)

Xi’s vision is encapsulated in a vague policy he announced in April called the “global security concept.” Repeatedly cited by Chinese diplomats, it includes principles like “indivisible security” — the idea that one country’s security cannot come at the cost of another, a concept Moscow has used to justify its invasion of Ukraine.

Since the Iran-Saudi deal Friday, Chinese state media and commentators have reveled in Western surprise at Beijing’s new role as a major power broker and hailed the success as a sign of China’s skill at mediation. 

“‘China has facilitated the restoration of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.’ For the West, the key word in this news headline is not Iran or Saudi Arabia, but China,” the state-run paper Guancha said in an editorial. “The change of hands of the ‘peacemaker’ is enough to shock all walks of life in the United States.”

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