Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,
Are Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping just “two authoritarians bound together by nothing more than their shared enmity toward the West” as the political/media faction in the West seems to believe? Or were their recent meetings in Beijing and Harbin indicative of something truly significant as one experienced American journalist believes?
Patrick Lawrence has given his analysis of the recent meetings between the two leaders and put this latest summit in the context of those that have happened in the last few years. It is striking to consider that the other two superpowers on this planet have agreed to cooperate peacefully on a wide range of subjects – not least of which being their decision to resist the United States’s insistence that it alone should formulate the ‘Rules’ for cooperation for everyone else. Where does this take us? Or rather, where does this leave us and our Rules?
As always, we look forward to your views on this latest installment of ‘As the World Turns.’
The Directors
Center for Citizen Initiatives
“Putin and Xi in Beijing”
May 18, 2024
By Patrick Lawrence / Original to SheerPost
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping added another to their count of 40–odd summit meetings when the Russian and Chinese presidents convened in Beijing, later proceeding to Harbin in Northeast China, for two days of talks that ended Friday. At 9:55 Thursday evening Beijing time, a day’s work done, the two sat behind a long table draped in green to address “members of the media,” as Xi put it.
Western officials and the media that clerk for them have done their best, per usual, to dismiss this latest encounter of the Russian and Chinese leaders as of no account, just two authoritarians bound together by nothing more than their shared enmity toward the West. Pay no attention. We ought not miss the significance of what Putin and Xi had to say this week to one another and to the rest of humanity. The world just turned once again.