Without Russia: political scientist named the main purpose of Blinken’s visit to China

Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State, arrived in China. The main goal of his visit may be to obtain Xi Jinping's neutrality in relations with Russia, as information is emerging about the establishment of close relations between Beijing and Moscow.

Political scientist Vladimir Fesenko told 24 Channel about this, noting that one should not expect big public statements, because the goals of this visit are such that they cannot bring immediate and a specific result. He added that in a broad sense, the US goal is to maintain a balance of constructive relations with China.

The main goal of the visit

The geopolitical dialogue that began with Xi Jinping's visit to the United States in 2023 continues. According to Fesenko, the United States of America is more active in this dialogue.

The Americans are trying to restrain China from aggressive actions against Taiwan and from direct military assistance Russia. The United States wants China not to strengthen it with its trade with Russia, but rather to contribute to the gradual end of the war on some compromise terms, he emphasized.

China and the United States have common interest is to find a balance in trade and economic relations among themselves. This includes Blinken’s visit.

I think the main goal of his visit is to keep China in a conditionally neutral status so that it can was worried about its economic relations with the United States and Europe, the political scientist said.

Sanctions against Chinese banks

America applies sanctions against Chinese banks, but not on a large scale. These are isolated warnings that have an effect.

Those large Chinese banks that want to operate in the United States of America and Europe generally adhere to the sanctions regime . Russia has big problems because of this. The occupiers are forced to conduct their trade with China through not the best Chinese banks, the political scientist emphasized.

The ability of Russians to carry out global economic transactions through China is limited. This reduces their ability to circumvent Western sanctions through China. The effect of the Western sanctions regime becoming noticeable.

China relations and Russia: briefly

• Russians are having problems with various Chinese banks. This time they stopped accepting RMB payments from Russia. The situation is reported to have rapidly taken a turn for the worse at the end of March. According to the information, 80% of transactions began to be returned to the senders.
• Russia continues to improve relations with China. The Kremlin decided to sell gas to the Chinese at a reduced price – 28% cheaper than to European countries. This system will be in effect until 2027. This decision is due to Moscow’s desire to create close energy ties with Beijing.
• China has greatly increased the prices of its cars in Russia. Beijing has practically captured the local market. The number of Chinese cars in Russia increased by 266.6% in the first quarter of 2024. The average price of a new car from China in Russia is 3.06 million rubles.