[Epoch Times October 13, 2021]According to a notice issued by the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, starting from late September, the Russian authorities have organized law enforcement officers from the internal affairs, security, National Guards, and taxation departments to launch a campaign against the Russian Communist Party. In the continuous arrests, dozens of major party members and supporters of the Russian Communist Party have been arrested in Moscow City, Moscow Oblast, and other places, and they have been imprisoned or fined. In addition, the Moscow police even launched a three-day seizure of the building of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party and the building of the Moscow City Committee of the Russian Communist Party. At the same time, the office of Melenikov, the first vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party, was also seized. The incident was unprecedented, and the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party Zyuganov issued a statement expressing his readiness to file a lawsuit.
Obviously, when the leaders of the Russian Communist Party were arrested and the building of the Russian Communist Party was seized, there must be something big that angered Russian President Vladimir Putin and asked him to order such a big action. Perhaps the seizure of the building might also be searching for evidence.
What is the reason behind it? Some overseas media quoted the former professor of the Department of Aerospace Industry of Moscow University, an engineer of the Ministry of Aerospace Industry, and Talia, who is now living overseas, saying that the main reason was that Putin learned that the CCP had long secretly supported the Russian Communist Party to overthrow him, and the situation has intensified recently. That’s why he made up his mind to start a big arrest. She believes that this is Putin’s warning to the CCP. Perhaps he will follow Poland’s “De-Communist Law” to completely eliminate the CCP’s corruption of Russia.
Five months ago, the Voice of America reported that the Russian far-right nationalist party, the all-Russian party “motherland” and even the Russian Minister of Justice, criticized the Russian Communist Party, its leader Zyuganov and other high-ranking officials from the Chinese Communist Party in the form of an open letter. He obtained money and other support and was at his mercy, saying that the Russian Communist Party should be included in the list of foreign agents in accordance with the law. The party said that the top leaders of the Russian Communist Party frequently travel to China and give speeches. Zyuganov has three books published in China, and a grandson is studying in China for an internship. The Levchenko family, former governor of Irkutsk Region, spends one third of the year in China. These are all invisible bribery.
It is not surprising that Putin, who was born in the KGB, can quickly grasp the intelligence of various parties; it is not surprising that the CCP infiltrated Russia and bought the Russian Communist Party. The strange thing is that if the above news is true, why does Putin sit back and watch the CCP’s support for the Russian Communist Party for so long, but now he cannot tolerate it? What is the “increased” support of the Chinese Communist Party to the Russian Communist Party? What’s more, how can this move benefit Xi Jinping, who has always regarded Putin as a “good friend” and even wants to imitate his “strongman politics”? It definitely does more harm than good. Especially in the international situation where the Sino-US trade war is obviously not conducive to the CCP, Russia’s friendship with the CCP appears to be even more “extremely valuable.”
Therefore, we might as well ask this question: Is Xi Jinping really instructed to overthrow Putin? Let’s first look at the relationship between Xi and Putin and the bilateral relationship between China and Russia.
After Xi Jinping was elected as the top leader of the Communist Party in 2012, he has visited Russia eight times and Putin has also visited Beijing many times. According to incomplete statistics, the two met nearly 30 times. Xi also called Putin “the best confidant.”
The Sino-Russian relationship has therefore become more and more close during the tenure of Xi Jinping and Putin. On the one hand, Putin needs the economic support of the CCP; on the other hand, Xi pays more attention to getting Putin’s political support, especially on the issue of the United States.
In June 2019, Xi joined Putin in Moscow to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement, and attended the 23rd International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg. In the “Joint Statement on Strengthening Global Strategic Stability” signed by the two men, they also warned that “the current international security environment is facing severe challenges” and that “individual countries, out of their own geopolitical and even commercial interests, undermine current arms control and prevent large-scale defenses according to their own needs. The behavior of the proliferation system of weapons of mass destruction is very dangerous,” the United States was not criticized by name.
At the end of the year, Xi Jinping reviewed the Sino-Russian friendship with confidence in his New Year’s message, saying that “China-Russia relations have entered a new era”, and looking forward to 2020, he expressed his willingness to “maintain close exchanges” with Putin and “for the development of China and Russia. Rejuvenation helps increase momentum”, while Putin is slightly low-key, acknowledging the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides in various fields, hoping that “Russia-China all-round cooperation and the constructive cooperation between the two countries in international affairs will continue to reach new levels.”
After the CCP virus (coronavirus, COVID-19) ravaged the world, the CCP has an inescapable responsibility for the spread of the epidemic, and it has become a target of public criticism. In addition, the pressure on Beijing by the United States is unprecedented. At the end of 2020, Xi and Putin exchanged New Year greetings, which is completely different from the exchange of New Year greetings in the previous four years. Xi emphasized that he hopes that Sino-Russian relations “will not be affected by changes in the international situation, and will not be interfered by any other factors.” Through strengthening strategic cooperation, the two countries “can effectively resist any attempts to suppress and divide the two countries.” The subtext conveys that the CCP is in In the “time of crisis”, it is necessary to join forces with Russia to confront the United States.
Putin reverted to Tai Chi, and took the weight lightly. He acknowledged the steady development of Russia-China relations this year and agreed to continue cooperation in the new year. However, there is a gap with Xi’s expectations. After all, Putin is not willing to engage in hostility with the United States. More importantly, Russia, born out of the Soviet Union, knows the evil of the CCP best. If the CCP can get the most benefit from it, Putin doesn’t mind maintaining an apparent “good partnership” relationship with it.
On June 28 this year, Xi also held a video meeting with Putin and issued a joint statement, formally deciding to extend the “Sino-Russian Treaty of Good-Neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation.” This is under the background that the United States and Europe are increasingly tough on the CCP and forging an “anti-communist” alliance. After the “constructive” meeting between Biden and Putin not long ago, Beijing deliberately took the long-awaited automatic extension of the treaty in order to counteract it. Come out and talk about things to highlight that Sino-Russian relations are “mature, stable, and robust, and can stand the test of any international vicissitudes.”
On August 25, Xi again talked with Putin. At that time, there were two major hot spots in the international community. One was to grasp the whereabouts of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan; the other was that the US intelligence agency was about to release an unclassified report on the origin of the Chinese Communist virus. According to the content of the call announced by the two parties, the Taliban are involved in vaccines and virus traceability. For Xi, one of the gains is that they have clarified each other’s position on the Afghanistan issue, and even reached some kind of agreement secretly, and made it clear that the two sides will Continuing to communicate on international hotspot issues, but in other areas such as vaccines and virus traceability, Beijing has not received full support from Russia.
It is not difficult to see that, because of each other’s needs, Xi and Putin have promoted the development of Sino-Russian relations while developing personal relations. While the CCP has won Russia’s support on a number of issues, including the United Nations against the United States, it has also paid a considerable price, especially in terms of economic benefits.
For example, in 2009, China and Russia signed a 25-year oil supply agreement with a total volume of 365 million tons and a total price of US$270 billion, equivalent to about US$101 per barrel. According to the contract, the CCP will pay 60 to 70 billion U.S. dollars in advance to Rosneft. However, since June 2014, international oil prices have plummeted and even fell below US$30 per barrel. The average oil price in 2017 was only about US$54 per barrel. However, the CCP still paid Russia a price far higher than the market price and passed it on to enterprises and ordinary people. Russia also understands the CCP’s “will”.
Based on this relationship, and knowing that Putin controls Russia, what reason does Xi Jinping have to support an opposition party to overthrow Putin? Especially when it is in a state of tension with the United States and Europe and is eyeing Taiwan, especially when it still needs Putin’s support.
The author infers that the most likely possibility is that in the context of the intense strangulation of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, it cannot be ruled out that someone in the party digs holes for Xi, creates various incidents, breaks the relationship between Xi and Putin (although Putin may not have trusted Xi), and blocks Xi. And Putin ordered action, it should be that the situation has reached a certain degree of seriousness. In addition, the latest news on October 11 showed that Russia announced the suspension of imports of a variety of Chinese-produced foods because they contained genetically modified ingredients and their content exceeded the standard. What kind of message is being conveyed to Beijing behind this? Obviously, no matter how strangling within the CCP, if Beijing wants to dispel Putin’s doubts, it may have to pay a certain price.
Editor in charge: Putshan#
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