Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin vow to drive "great changes" after meetings in Moscow
Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Moscow after a three-day visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Before leaving, Xi exclaimed he and Putin were driving changes, quote, the likes of which we haven't seen for 100 years. It's unclear what those changes would look like, but the two leaders have made sure to use the past couple of days to highlight what they called their common interests and growing trust. Around the same time, the pair parted ways, Ukraine's armed forces say Russia launched a deadly drone strike near the capital city. Beijing has offered a peace proposal for Ukraine, but the West calls it a non-starter. Ian Bremmer joins me now. He's the president of Eurasia Group and the author of the book The Power of Crisis.
Ian, it's going to be with you again. Given. Let's go to the kind of 30,000-foot view. Given all that happened at this meeting, what does it mean for U.S. national security interests? The fact that Russia is today a rogue state being run by a war criminal and that China, despite that, has gotten itself back to where they were with Russia February 4th a year ago. In other words, before the invasion hit, when Russia was China's most important friend and strategic partner on the global stage, they weren't saying that.
They weren't acting in that way over the first year of the war. Now they are. Part of that reason is that the China-U.S. relationship is a lot worse than it's been in the past. Part of it is because they increasingly believe that the West is going to get weaker and more divided in their support for Ukraine. Both of those things, of course, are problematic for the United States long-term.
Do you see this relationship, and maybe this is too pat, so tell me so if it is, but is this essentially a relationship built upon the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, which is they both are adversaries of the United States, and that makes their relationship necessary, but that that's all that's in their relationship? Or is there something that goes beyond it? Well, it is important, John, in the sense that they do share a worldview. That worldview is that the United States and its allies are trying to contain them. The Russians feel that way in terms of NATO and EU expansion and enlargement in Europe. The Chinese feel that way in terms of U.S. defense, as well as industrial policies, semiconductor policies, export controls, the Quad, all of that architecture in Asia. So there is a real alignment that's not ideological per se, but it's certainly geo-strategic, and that gets it what you were suggesting.
Of course, beyond that is the fact that China increasingly wants to be a leader with a lot more influence around the world. And what's interesting on China's so-called peace plan that the Americans, the Ukrainians, NATO have rejected out of hand, is that if you didn't know that the Chinese had written it, it could have been written by Mexico, or Brazil could have been written by India, by really anyone from the global south. And China injecting themselves at the forefront as the leader of saying what a lot of other people around the world want to be said, which is that Ukraine is not the most important issue out there, and that NATO is escalating a conflict which, frankly, is making life a lot more challenging economically for the poor people in the world. Like, that's not the way you and I see it, John. It's not the way Washington sees it. But it is the way a lot of people around the world do, and China definitely wants to take that spot early. Well, picking up on that point, then, do you think there is something real in this peace proposal? Not the particulars of it, but what it allows for, and the pressures it might unleash, that would lead towards some kind of resolution, or at least a next stage towards a resolution of the conflict? No.
No, I don't think there is right now. And in part, that's because Ukraine is in a relatively strong position. They're getting the trained forces they need. 50,000 more Ukrainian troops, well-equipped with good intelligence, going to be hitting the front lines in short order. They're getting the one million addition pieces of ammunition from the United States, from Europe, going forward. So they'll be able to engage in a counteroffensive in the coming month or two, and hopefully take back more of their land. But as we look ahead, six, 12 months down the road, if the Russians end up raising another 100, 200,000 troops and throwing them at the front line, if the United States looks weaker, more divided in its support for Ukraine, on the back of the 2024 election campaign, and a debt limit crisis this summer, that makes a lot of Americans say, why would we support Ukraine when we're not spending money on things that are critical to us as Americans? Well, then the Chinese plan might look less unpalatable for some in the NATO alliance, for some Republicans, for French President Macron, maybe German Chancellor Scholz, and if that were to happen, Zelensky will be very unhappy, the Poles will be very unhappy, the Baltics will be very unhappy, but suddenly Xi Jinping will look like he's got a much stronger position international.
Ian Bremmer, just laid it out for us for the next year. Thank you so much for that, Ian. Sure, John.
xi jinping, Vladimir Putin, U.S.-China relations, u.s.-russia relations, War in Ukraine, China, russia, CBS News, news