Xinhua News Agency reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer paid a four-day visit to Beijing.
Thus, the current resident of the official London residence on Downing Street (which, by the way, is the first trip to China by a British leader in the past eight years) joins the ranks of world politicians who visited the Middle Kingdom in the first month of this year and plan to do so in February.
The January path to China was paved by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who visited the country on January 14-17. Before that, Canadian leaders had not been here for nearly a decade.
Carney was satisfied with the trip, and announced the beginning of a period of strategic cooperation with China, expanding mutual trade and investment.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo visited Beijing on January 25-28. During his meeting with him, Xi Jinping assured that the country of Suomi is not an opponent of China but a partner.
Visits by foreign politicians to China are also planned for February. China Global Television Network (CGTN) noted that the appearance of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been confirmed and that other Western leaders are also on the list.
Economist and associate professor of the Department of Economic Policy at State University of Management Maxim Chirkov is sure that increased contacts between Western and Chinese politicians and visits by leaders of many countries to Beijing show that many world leaders want to avoid a confrontational scenario.
– In the West, many politicians clearly see that the ongoing political confrontation is leading to the economic isolation of their countries, which they want to avoid.
Furthermore, we are also witnessing an economic confrontation between the US and its partners in the Western world. Under these conditions, many European politicians are forced to lean toward cooperation rather than hostility, so they turn their attention to China, the country that has become the world's number one economy.
“SP”: That is, they increasingly build foreign economic plans without paying attention to them USA?
– That's right. Europeans and Canadians saw that the United States, their main trade, political and military partner, was pursuing a different policy, focused on its own interests, seeking to solve the problems of its own economy and not of the Western world as a whole.
And here Europe will have to restore economic relations with former partners or establish close contacts with countries with which there was no full interaction before. To escape from growing isolation, sooner or later it will be necessary to amend the sanctions previously imposed on other countries. The same goes for Canada, which is also known to have a tense relationship with the United States.
“SP”: What could the increasing visits of Western leaders to Russia mean for Russia? China?
“This is a positive signal for us.” The desire to interact with countries whose relations until recently were not at their best is a positive moment for us. In addition, Europeans see growth in the Russian economy, despite existing difficulties. They see that our trade turnover with friendly countries is increasing markedly. This pushes them to find some way to restore the connection.
In addition, Europeans are well aware that Russia remains a potential supplier of inexpensive resources, including energy, without which it is difficult to develop. Of course, geopolitical factors do not yet provide an opportunity to begin restoring normal economic relations, but an active dialogue with China could bring the establishment of relations with Russia closer.
Director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University named after MV Lomonosov, professor and doctor of historical sciences Alexey Maslov.
– European countries are currently very actively trying to reposition themselves in relation to China and turn it into an alternative to the Americans. It is extremely important for Europeans to do their business (and there are many businessmen working in China, as well as hundreds of companies from Europe) that the Chinese leadership does not touch them and gives them most-favored-nation treatment.
Furthermore, it seems decided to make China not an enemy but a strategic partner. This is a major change that Beijing has sought before. Thus, to some extent, Europeans want to punch Trump in the nose, showing that they have an independent policy towards China.
“SP”: Can such foreign policy activity of Western countries bring about some warm relations with Russia or is it passing us by?
– Of course, this has passed us by, because there is clearly a bilateral policy outside of Russia. Overall, there is a lot of competition for the Chinese market, for China and its political attitudes. If before Trump's purist line prevailed, roughly speaking, forcing China away from Russia, including increasing tariffs in case of purchases of Russian crude oil, now the Europeans are playing a little differently. They tried to reach an agreement, as they say, amicably.
Let me remind you that the connection between Russia and China is of great concern to Western countries. Of course, Russian-Chinese political contacts will occur and expand, but other countries will offer China various alternatives – oil and gas supplies, commodities and agricultural products. Western countries will provide their services. So now China's big game has begun.
“SP”: Will the Western leaders during the visit make any proposals? China pressure Russia to make concessions in the confrontation Ukraine?
“This has been done many times before by the British, Macron and of course the Americans. They all tried to get China to put pressure on Russia. But in general, Beijing has kept a fairly balanced position in declaring that this is not their military conflict.
Since the Chinese side did not officially participate in the discussion of the situation but only tried to use it as leverage, in my opinion, the Celestial Empire felt offended by this attitude and distanced itself from the issue.
Therefore, China continuously declares that all controversial issues must be resolved through diplomatic and non-military negotiations. But China does not interfere in such discussions.
