NATO Summit, China-KSA, China-UAE
The big story is the NATO summit and the explicit accusation that Chinese tech is supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
What NATO’s Warning to China About Russia Means - NYTimes:
Leaders from the NATO alliance, meeting in Washington, declared that Beijing “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history” without facing repercussions.
Despite a widening web of Western bans and restrictions, Chinese semiconductors, machine tools and other parts have become vital to Russia’s arms industries, helping Moscow to keep up its grinding war, say American and European officials, intelligence agencies and security experts.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian’s Regular Press Conference on July 11, 2024 - PRC MOFA.
NATO’s Washington Summit Declaration is a scaremongering piece about the Asia-Pacific, a product of the Cold War mentality and full of belligerent rhetoric. Its paragraphs on China contain a load of biases, smears and provocations. We strongly deplore and firmly oppose it, and have lodged a serious protest to NATO.
Part of the summit agenda is to mark NATO’s 75th anniversary. To make a case about NATO’s necessity, before the summit began, the US and NATO trumpeted the “glory” and “solidarity” about the alliance and glossed over it as “an organization for peace.” That, however, does not hide the fact that NATO is a vestige of the Cold War and a product of bloc confrontation and bloc politics. The NATO forces bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days in the name of “preventing further humanitarian disaster.” The tragedies of Afghanistan and Libya make it clear that wherever NATO shows up, turmoil and chaos will follow. NATO’s so-called security is more often than not built on others’ insecurity, and a lot of its security anxieties are self-made. The “success” and “strength” boasted by NATO means enormous danger to the world. To create imaginary enemies to justify its existence and act out of area is NATO’s go-to tactic. To falsely picture China as a “systemic challenge” and vilify China’s domestic and foreign policies is a case in point.
On Ukraine, NATO insists that China is responsible. That is ill-motivated and makes no sense. China’s objective and just position on Ukraine and the constructive role we’ve played are widely recognized by the international community. NATO has been spreading disinformation created by the US and blatantly smearing China to undermine China’s relations with Europe and hamper China-Europe cooperation. To this day, there’s still no end in sight for the Ukraine crisis. Who exactly is fueling the flames? Who exactly is “enabling” the conflict? The international community is not blind. We urge NATO to reflect on the root causes of the crisis and NATO’s own behavior, listen to the voice for good from the international community and contribute to deescalation, instead of shifting blames onto others.
NATO’s reach into the Asia-Pacific, strengthening of its military and security ties with China’s neighboring countries and US allies, and collaboration with the US to implement the Indo-Pacific Strategy harm China’s interests and disrupt peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific. This has already been questioned and rejected by regional countries.
China urges NATO to discard the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and zero-sum approach, form the right perception of China, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and vilifying China and stop disrupting China-Europe relations. Don’t bring instability to the Asia-Pacific after it has done so to Europe. China will firmly uphold its own sovereignty, security and development interest, and through its own development and cooperation with other countries, inject more stability and positive energy to world peace and stability.
NATO's 'globalization' can only accelerate its failure - Global Times. Not surprisingly, the Global Times op-ed team didn’t take an especially introspective dive into the NATO summit:
NATO is the product of camp confrontation and group politics, and stands in the opposite of the general global trend as well as the aspiration of the people. No matter how hard it tries to present itself as a "peacekeeping organization," it cannot hide its true nature as a "war machine." NATO's so-called security comes at the expense of the security of other countries; many of the "security anxieties" peddled by NATO are created by the organization itself. We will not speculate on whether NATO "will make it to 76 alive," but it is certain that NATO will not peacefully move into the future. It needs to continuously create more enemies and greater crises to sustain its existence. Not content with dividing Europe, NATO is also seeking to incite conflicts and confrontations in the Asia-Pacific region.
China-Russia alignment: a threat to Europe's security - MERICS, Chatham House & George Marshall Fund. I’ve only skimmed this but it looks like something a lot of you would want to check out if it hasn’t crossed your radar yet. The key findings:
The war in Ukraine has altered the balance of interests between China and Russia. They have drawn closer together and further away from the West without reconciling their different world views.
The new China-Russia alignment is characterized by a strong, flexible political bond but lacks a shared ideology or legal framework. It reflects mutual instrumentalization and is highly contingent on external factors.
This alignment has evolved from a mere challenge into a complex security threat to Europe and its transatlantic partners.
Although the United States and Europe see threats from Russia and China as separate and carrying different degrees of urgency, it is imperative to understand the nature and the extent of the threat they pose together.
Russia’s war on Ukraine is a direct threat to European security. Beijing’s assistance to Russia turns China into a security threat to be contained rather than only a “partner, competitor and systemic rival”.
China is providing Russia with an economic lifeline, helping Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions and expand its military-industrial complex with unrestricted exports of critical dual-use goods.
China is supporting Russia also with hybrid operations and increased military cooperation, reducing Russia’s diplomatic isolation and promoting Russia’s narrative in the Global South.
Attempts to drive a wedge between the two “limitless partners” are likely to be counterproductive. Instead, the key is to change Beijing’s calculus for supporting Moscow.
The policy recommendations for transatlantic partners provided here revolve around three pillars: 1. Revising Europe’s view of China to acknowledge the security threat it represents. 2. Recognising China’s potential role to play in ending the war in Ukraine, yet without weakening European security. 3. Clarifying red lines and imposing costs on China for its support for Russia’s war effort.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled content.
China - Saudi stories this week:
Chinese vice premier meets Saudi Arabian guest - Xinhua.
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is in charge of Saudi Arabia's economic cooperation affairs with China, in Beijing on Tuesday.
Not much in the way of details here. Their talks consisted of the normal stuff - trade, energy, investment, tech. Al-Rumayyan is chairman of Saudi Aramco and governor of the Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund. Interesting that he’s running the econ side of the bilateral relationship.
BRI, Sino-Saudi business ties attract Chinese companies - China Daily. The Saudi Vision 2030 - BRI synergy is made explicit in this piece, which is very standard. The two initiatives line up neatly, and the project described here - developing a new downtown area in Riyadh - is the kind of thing Chinese SOEs do really well:
New Murabba Development is responsible for building a modern downtown in Riyadh. Its development spans 19 square kilometers, features the Mukaab tower at its center. The project will include 2 million square meters of floor space featuring retail areas, tourist attractions, 104,000 residential units, 9,000 hotel accommodations and 80 entertainment options. Its first phase is scheduled to be completed and operational in 2030.
China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd, a Beijing-headquartered subsidiary of State-owned China Communications Construction Co Ltd, will build the first phase of excavation work. This phase includes the excavation and subsequent backfilling required for the construction of the basement structures of the Mukaab tower, a massive cube-shaped structure, and the surrounding podiums.
Chinese construction giant wins major development contract in Saudi Arabia - Xinhua. Another big contract for another Chinese SOE in the kingdom, this one a joint project worth $2 billion for China State Construction Engineering Corporation and El Seif Engineering Contracting Co. Ltd. This one’s for a development project in Diriyah, north of Riyadh, and will include educational institutions, cultural venues, modern offices, and a luxury hotel.
China - UAE joint military drills. There’s not much coverage of this and little in the way of reliable details being made publicly available.
China, UAE hold air force drills in Xinjiang as defense relations grow - Al Monitor. This piece gives a bit of background but little in the way of details about the drills.
China-UAE joint air force training exercise opens in Xinjiang - Xinhua.
The opening ceremony for the "Falcon Shield-2024" joint air force training exercise between China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took place Wednesday in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The event was attended by participating officers and soldiers from both countries, including the UAE's deputy military attaché in China.
During the ceremony, troops from China and the UAE stood in formation as commanders from both sides pinned insignia on pilots of the other side. The top Chinese officer present declared the start of the joint training.