![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/c1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nImagine fierce president Xi Jinping in a phone call with the warmongering actor in a sweaty T-shirt in Kiev while attempting to teach him a few facts of life \u2013 complete with the promise of sending a high-level Chinese delegation to Ukraine to discuss \u201cpeace\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There was way more than meets the discerning eye obscured by this spun-to-death diplomatic \u201cvictory\u201d \u2013 at least from the point of view of NATOstan.<\/p>\n
The question is inevitable: what was the point of this phone call? Very simple: just business.<\/p>\n
The Beijing leadership considers the NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine as an American direct war against the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).<\/p>\n
Until recently, and since 2019, Beijing was the top trade partner for Kiev (14.4% of imports, 15.3% of exports). China essentially exported machinery, equipment, cars and chemical products, importing food products, metals and also some machinery.<\/p>\n
Very few in the West know that Ukraine joined BRI way back in 2014, and a BRI trade and investment center was operating in Kiev since 2018. BRI projects include a 2017 drive to build the fourth line of the Kiev metro system as well as 4G installed by Huawei. Everything is stalled since 2022.<\/p>\n
Noble Agri, a subsidiary of COFCO (China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corporation), invested in a sunflower seed processing complex in Mariupol and the recently built Mykolaiv grain port terminal. The next step will necessarily feature cooperation between Donbass authorities and the Chinese when it comes to rebuilding their assets that may have been damaged during the war.<\/p>\n
Beijing also tried to become heavily involved in the Ukraine defense sector and even buy Motor Sich; that was blocked by Kiev.<\/p>\n
So what we have in Ukraine, from the Chinese point of view, is a trade\/investment cocktail of BRI, railways, military supplies, 4G and construction jobs. And then, the key vector: neon.<\/p>\n
Roughly half of neon used in the production of semiconductors was supplied, until recently, by two Ukrainian companies; Ingas in Mariupol, and Cryoin, in Odessa. There\u2019s no business going on since the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO). That directly affects the Chinese production of semiconductors. Bets can be made that the Hegemon is not exactly losing sleep over this predicament.<\/p>\n
Ukraine does represent value for China as a BRI crossroads. The war is interrupting not only business but, in the bigger picture, one of the trade and connectivity corridors linking Western China to Eastern Europe. BRI conditions all key decisions in Beijing \u2013 as it is the overarching concept of Chinese foreign policy way into mid-century.<\/p>\n
And that explains Xi\u2019s phone call, debunking any NATOstan nonsense on China finally paying attention to the warmongering actor himself.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s transition to the meeting of Defense Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Delhi.<\/p>\n
The key meeting in India was between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Chinese colleague Li Shangfu. Li was recently in Moscow, and was received by Putin in person for a special conversation. This time he invited Shoigu to visit Beijing, and that was promptly accepted.<\/p>\n
Needless to add that every single player in the SCO and beyond, including nations that are for the moment just observers or dialogue partners as well as others itching to become full members, such as Saudi Arabia, paid very close attention to the Shoigu-Shangfu camaraderie.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the profoundly strategic Central Asian \u201cstans\u201d, that represents the \u2018six feet under\u2019 treatment for the Hegemon wishful thinking of using them in a divide and rule<\/em> scheme pitting Russia against China.<\/p>\n Shoigu-Shangfu also sent a subtle message to SCO members India and Pakistan \u2013 stop bickering, and in the case of Delhi, hedging your bets \u2013 and to full member (in 2023) Iran and near future member Saudi Arabia: here\u2019s where\u2019s it at, this the table that matters.<\/p>\n All of the above also points to the increasing interconnection between BRI and SCO, both under Russia-China leadership.<\/p>\n BRICS is essentially an economic club \u2013 complete with its own bank, the NDB \u2013 and focused on trade. It\u2019s mostly about soft power. The SCO is focused on security. It\u2019s about hard power. Together, these are the two key organizations that will be paving the multilateral way.<\/p>\n As for what will be left of Ukraine, it is already being bought by Western mega-players such as BlackRock, Cargill and Monsanto. Yet Beijing certainly does not count on being left high and dry. Stranger aspects have occurred than a future rump Ukraine positioned as a functioning trade and connectivity BRI partner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n yogaesoteric <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imagine fierce president Xi Jinping in a phone call with the warmongering actor in a sweaty T-shirt in Kiev while attempting to teach him a few facts of life \u2013 complete with the promise of sending a high-level Chinese delegation to Ukraine to discuss \u201cpeace\u201d. There was way more than meets the discerning eye obscured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions-1602-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127628,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127624\/revisions\/127628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nJuly 18, 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n