As the Russian President departed China, the image of both nation’s leaders embracing each other on the tarmac underlined what was a seminal and symbolic moment in global politics.
This wasn’t an ordinary state visit, it was a declaration by both nations of the “end of US hegemony”, and the beginning of a “democratic, multipolar world”. Such strong, prophetic language is by choice, as the world sleepwalks into mushrooming global conflicts, with the US-led Western alliance at the heart of each disparate conflict, the Russian-Chinese alliance is demonstrating that it is willing to fight this status quo till the end. The timing and optics of the visit are crucial. In Ukraine, Russia is breaking through defensive lines in Donbas and around Kharkiv – the second largest city after Kyiv – while its economy continues to motor along despite sanctions. The tide of the war is turning, and NATO members have started to express their worry. In the Middle East, Israel’s brutal genocide has exposed the rhetoric of the “rules-based order” and the narrative of “democracy” and “human rights” used to enforce that order. Meanwhile, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran, and Iran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq, pose a significant threat to Israel and US hegemony in the region, despite decades of US interventionism in the region.
In reaction, popular protests against imperialism are sweeping the world, with the younger generations overwhelmingly opposing US foreign policy.
Furthermore, North Africa – once a neocolonial outpost of the French empire – is rapidly changing and kicking out its French imperial officers, in some cases with the help of Russian paramilitary forces. Central and South Africa is currently a battleground for Chinese and Western investors, with each seeking to outdo each other in securing key resources, and alliances that such investments will bring.
Finally, in the South China Sea, we are witnessing one of the most rapid escalations in military deployment in recent times, with the US and China engaged in a high-tech arms race. Recently, for the first time the Chinese Navy exceeded the might of the US Navy, in pure tonnage, if not in quality yet. A sign of times to come.
At this crucial moment in history, two of world’s greatest powers affirming a “no limits” alliance, backed by military, economic, technological, and cultural, exchange, in opposition to the US-led world order will send seismic shocks across the globe.