RUSSIA:The military tensions between Beijing and Washington have indeed serious implications for Russia. Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has caused a dramatic thaw in US-China ties, which has highlighted a fresh security dilemma in the Indo-Pacific area.
Unsurprisingly, a large number of officials, scientists, and politicians are asking this question in Moscow: Is Russia now China's only strategic partner? What is ahead for relations between China and Russia? The seething hostility in the relations between Moscow and Washington, played out in the European theatre, had been making headlines internationally since President Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine, which the West has derogatorily labelled as a war and an attack on a neighbouring country.
Contrarily, the Indo-Pacific area, which is not covered by NATO's primary mission, received only supplemental attention despite crises and conflict.
In reality, the West was courting China while it was at odds with Russia in the hopes that Beijing would not support Moscow and ease the strain.
But the Chinese managed to strike a balance. In a similar manner to India, they persisted in their cooperation with Russia, creating a "window of opportunity" for themselves. Beijing then started to restructure its trade, economic, and energy cooperation with Russia.
Over the past few months, the West has employed every tactic at its disposal to persuade Beijing to turn away from Moscow. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and US President Joe Biden all tried to persuade Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Finally, Comrade Xi was sternly threatened and warned that Beijing would pay a "heavy price" if it did not cooperate. China was compelled to strike a delicate diplomatic balance as a result of coercion, incentive, and individual self-interest--a combination that would not have worked if Beijing had played a zero-sum game. It stated that it would not and would not provide any help, including military backing, to Russia's fight with Ukraine, but it did not reject collaboration with Moscow.
China cancellation of defense talks with the US
Despite unrest in the Taiwan Strait, Penny Wong calls for "restraint and de-escalation."
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