News

Wednesday 2 February 2022

International Scientific and Practical Conference "Russian-Chinese Cooperation - the Basis for Multipolar World Formation"

 
The event was held online on the 2nd of February, 2022.

The organizers of the conference were the following organizations:

• Center for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences;
• Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences;
• Center for Applied Analysis of International Transformations of People’s Friendship University of Russia, Department of Theory and History of International Relations of People’s Friendship University of Russia;
• Francophonie Center of People’s Friendship University of Russia.

Conference languages: Russian, Chinese, French.

This conference was organized on the eve of the Winter Olympic Games opening in Beijing. At this event the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of Russia and China was scheduled. 

Obviously, that at Beijing the heads of state will be discussing issues of security, economic cooperation, and countering the US policy of containment. These and many other issues were also discussed by experts from Russia, China, Bulgaria, Israel, and France at a conference in Moscow.

We are now all being the witnesses of serious geopolitical transformations. The US and its allies seek to maintain their leadership and to destabilize the international situation with their actions. This, of course, was the so-called "Summit for Democracy" that was held at the end of last year under the auspices of the United States. The anti-Russian and anti-Chinese orientation of this event was beyond doubt,  Washington desired to use the crisis in Ukraine and the Taiwan issue for its own purposes. These themes ran like a red thread through all the experts' speeches.

The conference began with congratulations from our Chinese colleagues, who recently celebrated the beginning of Tiger New Year according to the lunar calendar. 

Dmitry Mosyakov, the Head of the Center for Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania of  the Institute of Oriental Studies, addressed the participants with a welcoming speech. He presented to the conference participants a new monograph on the topic of US-China relations in Southeast Asia: "Countries of Southeast Asia and South Pacific between Beijing and Washington." Such publications are very important nowadays when competition between the US and China is reaching a new level and when it is necessary to carefully consider possible scenarios for Russia. In particular, the expert pointed out that the United States aim to use Vietnam in the Asia-Pacific region as one of the elements of restraining China. The technology here is very similar to how the US uses Ukraine against Russia. It is clear that both Vietnam and Ukraine have already become "proxy allies" of the United States, and the independence of their foreign policy is being questioned.

The conference participants were also welcomed by: Andrey Vinogradov, Doctor of Political Sciences, the Head of the Center for Political Research and Forecasts of the Institute of the Far East, Marina Moseykina, Doctor of Historical Sciences, the Head of the Department of History of Russia at the People's Friendship University of Russia, and Denis Degterev, Doctor of Political Sciences, the Head of Department of Theory and History of International Relations, People’s Friendship University of Russia. The conference was moderated by Konstantin Blokhin, Candidate of Historical Sciences, the Leading Researcher at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Yang Cheng, the Executive Director of the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and International Regional Studies, devoted his speech to relations between China, Russia and the United States. He noted in his report the strategic importance of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the face of confrontation with the United States. The professor noted that Russia and China are more than allies.

The leading Russian expert in the field of international relations in the CIS, Konstantin Kurylev, Doctor of Historical Sciences, made a presentation in which he presented a comprehensive view of the military-technical cooperation between Ukraine and China. In his report, he showed in detail how the fruitful bilateral cooperation in the military-industrial sphere was completely nullified due to the lack of independence of Ukraine's foreign policy. However, taking into account the long-term strategic planning of the PRC, there is still the possibility of renewed cooperation in the future.

Many speakers also drew attention to the US policy of promoting disinformation. Western media seek to link the conflict in Ukraine and the Taiwan and to use it to discredit Russia and China. However, it is obvious that Russia and China are pursuing a peaceful foreign policy and are aimed at intensifying international cooperation, especially at a time when the whole world is engulfed by the coronavirus pandemic.