As relations deteriorate with the West, Putin and Xi are getting closer

In the early days of the pandemic years in Wuhan, China, it was hard to watch the news about COVID-19. It seemed like we were fighting a war against an invisible enemy that existed outside our grasp and one that threatened everything that we knew. That is changed drastically over the past five months, and it’s not because there’is no potential threat or danger to the world anymore. Although there’s still a possibility that the COVID-19 virus will become a global epidemic, that has been reduced significantly. But not only that, many countries have already banned the use of face masking and are requiring face masks for all citizens. There are other restrictions on certain types of travel, too. These are all signs that, with the recent political conflicts and protests in Russia, Hong Kong and the USA, China might feel its power waning. But even while these are happening, the relationship between the two superpowers is getting closer than ever before.

The Kremlin is starting to crack down on American sanctions for the first time since Soviet Russia took over. This is mostly due to accusations that the U.S. military is spying on their country. However, they have also stated publicly regarding Huawei which can be seen as part of the Chinese government’ strategy towards the United States. They accuse Huawei of being involved in espionage activities which, in turn, could lead to them losing Huawei’s business in China. Their main aim is to block out technology from America so that they don’t need to worry about security and other important things. Some analysts are saying that this is one of China’s primary moves in order to secure its position in the region. One is that Beijing wants to prevent a new conflict between Japan and China. However, I think most people would agree that the diplomatic relations between both the countries have been rather tense and, due to the increasing tensions, there can be a possibility that the relationship could soon finish.

Recently, China appears more aggressive in handling issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. These have proven to be quite difficult to deal with because each of these countries have been trying to bring them under control by force and sometimes they haven’t been successful. For example, Taiwan have had to declare themselves independent and they had to get rid of the democratic election system that is used in their democracy. I personally believe that Hong Kong should be allowed to maintain their own independence, but the reality is that as the number of people in Hong Kong dwindles and the government continues to make decisions about how to contain the spread of Covid-19, it seems like the future of Hong Kong’s democracy will have to wait for the next few months. If China does manage to solve this issue, they could potentially see an end to the long-running social unrest. Even though China and the US share an interest in the sovereignty of Taiwan, it’s still relatively unclear if their intentions to take back control of Taiwan will affect the way the two countries behave today or in the future.

As mentioned above, China has focused its attention on keeping up a good relationship with the USA regarding how they can solve many of the problems they are facing right now: politics, economy. All three areas are concerning the U.S. and all three problems require diplomacy and negotiations to be tried and resolved. When China deals with such a problem it tends to focus on one area at a time. So, when it comes to trade with America today, their main focus is that they want to try and make room for it as well as to make sure that they won’t lose access to their markets. However, with time this has changed drastically. We have already seen a dramatic shift in the relations between the mainland and the rest of China. Now with the increased tension in both sides recently, it makes sense that China wants to keep up their cooperation with the US.

Over the course of 2020 I have learned about the importance of staying close to family as much as possible. Since March and April, we have only visited our elderly parents and grandparents on the weekends. We never went to our own children for fear of spreading the virus. During times when both countries were locked down, it wasn’t reasonable to go home. At some point we all just sat around in our houses instead of going out and visiting friends. Not to mention that it looks like the quarantine is making everyone miss out on many small events like birthday parties, weddings, etc. It’s the same thing with health and I don’t expect to see an improvement in this soon yet either. If it starts to return, then it will very likely be that families will start spending a lot more time together. On top of that, China will probably start paying less attention to how people are living the rest of the year because of the fact that it will be harder to stay away from your loved ones. Many of my family members will have jobs and other interests that may mean that they won’t necessarily be home for the holidays.

But I’m really excited for what the future might hold because I think that the way that the United States and China relate will change dramatically in the future. It will change forever as both countries will definitely be involved in different aspects of international affairs that would change depending on who is in charge. What I am learning through observing the current diplomatic situation between the two countries, however, is that both countries have always had an amazing ability to work together. Both of them have always worked together to solve conflicts, to build bridges and to support each other in times of trouble. Each of them knows when to push through and when to compromise. As much as there have been differences throughout the history of these two nations, I think we can all agree that each of the leaders is extremely talented and hard working. We might not know it right now, but in 10 to 20 years the world over, their personalities will not be matched at least to one another.