Two times twenty years
The new treaty between China and Russia
by Wilfried Schreiber,* Germany
(18 November 2021) In view of the disaster of the twenty-year Western military presence in Afghanistan, an event on the political-diplomatic level has gone unnoticed in this country, but its geostrategic dimension is just as significant. It is the extension of the "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China" for another 20 years. The treaty extension of June 2021 and the joint declaration of both countries could be useful in coming to terms with the war in Afghanistan.
In the declaration1 both sides emphasise that Russian-Chinese relations have developed successfully on the basis of the 2001 treaty and are now taking on a “truly strategic character”. In doing so, both states pursue the claim of creating a model for a new type of interstate relations. This is how they formulate conceptual statements on a new world order. At the core of this is first of all the rejection of the USA’s claim to assert its hegemonic role worldwide. The statement refers to the argumentation of the USA with the formula of the “rule-based order”, which must be the standard for all international relations. What is meant here, however, are norms of behaviour that primarily correspond to the interests and values of the West. In particular, these are categories such as freedom, democracy and human rights, which are interpreted unilaterally and placed at the centre of a moralising foreign policy without being legitimised by international law.
The Joint Declaration assumes that there can be no going back behind the norms set by the UN Charter. Only the rules based on them correspond to the principles of equality and national sovereignty that apply to all member states of the United Nations. In this respect, the concept of the “rules-based order” is resolutely rejected by Russia and China, as it aims to recognise only the Western way of life as the only acceptable model for all human civilisation. This universalistic claim has failed miserably in Afghanistan after a twenty-year missionary and regime-change policy.
In view of this debacle, the West should see it as an opportunity that the Russian-Chinese declaration extends an invitation to the transatlantic West to conduct a strategic dialogue on the future of the planet. In this context, Russia and China assume that in today’s world, the nuclear weapon states in particular have a special responsibility. The joint declaration therefore addresses the permanent members of the Security Council directly and urges them to live up to this responsibility as leading nuclear weapons powers. To this end, it proposes a summit meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council.
The transatlantic West would be well advised to accept Russia’s and China’s offer of dialogue and cooperation. The situation is favourable because the whole world is calling for lessons to be learned from the Afghanistan debacle. Given the complexity of the situation there, pragmatic and real political solutions are called for. The increasing confrontation in the world must be overcome.
The rivalry between a “league of democrats” and a “league of autocrats” cannot be helpful here. On the agenda is the question of a world order of international law and multilateralism. But this presupposes that the transatlantic West gives up its neo-colonialist claim to be the only acceptable model of civilisation for humanity.
The attitude of the European Union is likely to play an important role in resolving this question. Does it see itself as a geopolitical player and rival or primarily as a mediator between the great adversaries? The European Union’s chance to survive in this competition is not confrontation but global cooperation. It remains to be seen whether the EU will find the strength to reason.
| * Prof. Dr. sc. oec. et Dr. phil. Wilfried Schreiber, born 1937, Senior Research Fellow at the WeltTrends Institute for International Politics, Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of WeltTrends, Member of the Discussion Group on Peace and Security Policy of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, wlschreiber@arcor.de |
Source: WorldTrends. Das aussenpolitische Journal, No. 180, October 2021, 29th year, pp.70-71. Reprinted with kind permission of the author.
(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)
1 https://slub.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A75727/attachment/ATT-0/