Attacks on Russia and Invasion of the Capitol: A Chinese Perspective on Events in 2021

Every year, the Chinese state agency New China (Xinhua) publishes ten major international events according to, roughly speaking, official Beijing. From these lists, one can understand what issues are of concern to China, what is China's point of view on certain global and not very processes, what strategic directions the CPC sees in the world policy... We in Russia may be interested in this in order to take into account the views of the largest friendly power.

Capture of the US Capitol

The key event at the beginning of the year, according to the Xinhua news agency, was the storming of the Capitol by the Trumpists. "The riots in the Capitol dispelled the fantasy of American democracy" - this is how the Chinese titled their first paragraph. The "revolt against an orderly transfer of power," according to Xinhua, stunned the world, becoming one of the most far-reaching events in modern US history, a symbol of bloody American politics, and dispelled the ideology of American-style democracy supremacy.



Most delicately, the Xinhua News Agency pointed out, among other things, that the storming of the Capitol exposed the "enormous social inequality" of American society. Apparently, the Chinese communists saw in the capture of the Capitol a forerunner of the growth of revolutionary sentiments in the United States.

It is difficult to disagree with the Chinese that the capture of the Capitol was an important event of the outgoing year for the United States and indirectly for the whole world, since American domestic policy, for obvious reasons, has a great influence on foreign policy. Moreover, Trumpomaidan divided the modern United States into "before" and "after", like September 11. The fact is that not only the ideology of the superiority of the American-style democracy collapsed, but also the decay of the bipartisan model became obvious. Most importantly, the American people began to realize the fragility of the political regime. If a disorganized crowd of Trumpists so easily seized and destroyed the Capitol at a swoop, what could a well-organized group of putschists do or, "worse," a revolutionary party that would follow the popular movement? In part, America has experienced the recipes for a color revolution, but at the same time, the "progressive public" has come to understand that the federal government with all its armed forces, the Fed, the stock exchange and corporations is a colossus with feet of clay. And in the conditions of traditional confederal separatism, this can become an important factor in the gradual weakening of the centralized state in the United States. And the repression that Biden has unleashed on the Trumpist pogromists only intensifies fermentation and discontent with Washington.

The fragility of the global economy

The second chronologically key event, according to China, was the blocking of the Suez Canal, which demonstrated the fragility of the world economics... The blockage of the channel has sharply exacerbated the pandemic crisis and exposed the imbalance in the global economic recovery. Along with disrupted supply chains, shortages of microcircuits and rising commodity prices, there has been a growing gap between rich and poor countries, including in development. Xinhua News Agency believes that the way out of the situation lies through the strengthening of economic globalization and increased coordination between major economies. The Chinese subtly hint that the problems of the world economy must be solved by maximizing its openness, lifting sanctions and restrictions on protectionism.

It is difficult to agree with China here, because it went through a unique path of opening the socialist economy to foreign capital, in which the state was able to sit on two chairs: technology The West and at the same time preserve a powerful, competitive public sector. It was a difficult and long struggle, the outcome of which, generally speaking, has not yet been fully determined. The success of the Chinese experience is ensured by the exceptionally tough political dictatorship of the CCP, in particular, the continuity of the course of its leadership. This factor is absent in most countries, so the Chinese recipe is not suitable for other countries. Here, China offers exclusively what is beneficial to China itself, which is actively expanding its capital abroad.

The problem of the world economy is primarily in its ultra-market character, in the fact that countries do not strive to develop their own production, but rely on the sale and purchase of resources, technologies and goods. In such conditions, the rise of the rich and the belittling of the poor, global monopolization inevitably take place. Moreover, forcing a private trader to act not in selfish, but in the public interest is a separate, extremely difficult task, over the solution of which China itself has been racking its brains over the past 40 years. Under the omnipotence of the CCP, dictatorial methods manage to somehow manage private owners. But, first of all, what should other countries do with a usual democratic regime? Secondly, contrary to the claims of patented liberals, the power of China is still provided by the public sector, not private capital.

After the start of open confrontation with the West and the imposition of sanctions, our industry and agriculture began to develop at least somehow. Politicians finally started talking about industry and the need to provide the country with their own food.

Some will say that the international division of labor is wonderful, a step forward, a step towards optimization. Let each country produce what corresponds to its natural-geographical and industrial-logistic conditions, and an active exchange of goods prevails. But the problem is that under market conditions, no optimization takes place, and the Siberian is forced to buy Moldovan apples and Turkish tomatoes. What is rational in the fact that we cannot not only produce smartphones for ourselves, but also grow apples and tomatoes? The world market only aggravates the uneven development of countries, and turns our Russia into a raw material appendage of the West and China.

The Xinhua news agency designated space exploration as the next key event of the year, in particular a breakthrough in the exploration of Mars.

US flight from Afghanistan

Further, perhaps the most significant event - the expulsion of the United States from Afghanistan. The Chinese estimate that 30 years of the longest war in US history have resulted in the killing of more than 30 civilians and an 11 million migrant flow from Afghanistan.


Two things can be noted here. First, the shame of the United States in Afghanistan has become a real symbol of the withering of American hegemony. After this fiasco, America will no longer be able to restore its international prestige. Secondly, some are inclined to consider the Taliban, banned in the Russian Federation, almost a pro-Chinese organization. According to the Xinhua News Agency, such hasty conclusions should not be drawn. The Taliban's victory is not officially presented as the end of the national liberation struggle of the Afghan people, which, of course, we would see if the CCP had sympathy for the Islamists.

The next "event" is the success of Chinese diplomacy, the peak of which was the speech of President Xi at the UN, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of China's restoration of rights.


On the one hand, China is really trying to raise the degree of adequacy in world relations, supplied 2 billion vaccines to countries free of charge, and in every possible way avoided direct confrontation with the United States. On the other hand, this policy can hardly be called a key event of the year, because China has not yet made any noticeable successes either in creating an anti-American front in the Cold War, or in enticing the EU to its side, or in isolating the United States.

Attacks on Russia

Further, the Xinhua news agency notes that one of the key events of 2021 was a sharp increase in the confrontation between the United States and Russia. Here, China is entirely on our side and interprets all the claims of the West as aggressive intentions and a product of the Cold War mentality. Interestingly, China sagaciously views the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Poland as an attempt to put pressure on Russia.

China also considers the adoption of a global pact to combat climate change in Glasgow as one of the most important events of the past year. It is noted that developed countries should take a leading role in reducing emissions and in fulfilling commitments to finance the decisions taken. Here, of course, the naive belief of Chinese diplomacy is manifested that common sense will outweigh politics and the conflicting parties will form some kind of cooperation in the struggle for the climate.

Further, another example of diplomatic faith: The Chinese believe that the videoconference between Chairman Xi and President Biden on November 16, during which both leaders "reached a fundamental consensus" not to unleash a new Cold War (which is already in full swing), had a "strategic, comprehensive and fundamental importance. "

In conclusion, the Chinese celebrate the merits of the departed "pragmatic and rational" Merkel and the problems facing the new German government: a pandemic, difficult economic recovery, the consequences of Brexit and sluggishness of European integration. It reads between the lines that the new government will stall "on the path to genuine strategic EU autonomy."

And finally, large-scale covid vaccination, to which China has made a significant contribution, supplying (mostly free) 2 billion doses of vaccines out of 8,6 billion injections supplied worldwide. Xinhua News Agency notes that Western countries, unlike China, have fallen into "vaccine nationalism."

To win the protracted battle against the pandemic, the Chinese conclude, it is imperative for all parties to work together to deliver vaccines for the benefit of the world and to make full use of vaccines, medicines and preventive measures.

What important things have not been noted in China? The rise to power in Iran of a hard-line supporter Ebrahim Raisi and, in general, the strengthening of Iran. The defeat of Israel in the war with Hamas and the change of power in Israel. The preparation by America of its puppets in the person of Japan, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan for an open conflict with China, the creation of AUKUS. The conflict between France and the United States and Macron's calming down on the issue of a contract for the construction of submarines.

For the rest, 2021 in terms of military and political results turned out to be expected: contradictions are aggravated, conflicts are growing, the world continues to be on the approaches to a new world war.