Russian strongman Vladimir Putin encouraged the United States to allow China to expand its economic influence in the West in an interview with journalist Tucker Carlson published Thursday, but on the same day. , Putin held a long meeting with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, boasting about the amount of trade between the two countries. .
In a nearly two-hour interview with Carlson in Moscow, with special emphasis on early medieval history, Putin told Carlson, as a stand-in for the United States, that by trying to limit the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party, “you are You are hurting yourself,” he said. About the American economy.
Episode 73 Interview with President Vladimir Putin pic.twitter.com/67YuZRkfLL
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 8, 2024
“Are Chinese companies having a small presence in the United States? Yes, the political decision is like trying to limit cooperation with China,” Putin said, according to a translation of his comments. kremlin. “Mr. Tucker, you are limiting cooperation with China to your own detriment and to your own detriment. This is a sensitive issue, and as with the dollar, there is no silver bullet. there is no.”
Carlson asked Putin whether China, a “much more sentimental and tolerant colonial power” than the United States, was gaining an advantage in a way that could hurt Russia. The president dismissed it as “boogeyman talk.”
“This is the story of the boogeyman. We are neighbors with China. Just as you can’t choose your next of kin, you can’t choose your neighbors. We share a 1000-kilometre border with them. . This is the first thing,” President Putin declared.
“We always hear the same boogeyman story, and the same boogeyman story is told here, albeit in a more euphemistic form. Cooperation with China continues to increase,” he continued. “The pace of growth of Sino-European cooperation is faster and larger than the growth of Sino-Russian cooperation. Ask the Europeans: Aren’t they afraid? They may be, I don’t know. But they are still trying to access the Chinese market at all costs.”
Putin went on to claim that China, which is aggressively seizing sovereign territory across Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, India, Japan, and Taiwan, is seeking a “compromise” with the rest of the world.
President Putin asserted, “China’s diplomatic philosophy is not aggressive. It is China’s philosophy to always look for compromises, and we understand that.”
This pool photo distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik shows Russian President Vladimir Putin interviewing American talk show host Tucker Carlson at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 6, 2024. (Photo by Gavriil) GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP) (Photo credit: GAVRIIL) Grigorov/POOL/AFP via Getty)
In reality, China’s economic expansion has been accompanied by colonialist invasions, particularly in Africa, where Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loans have shut down some of the continent’s poorest countries and racist Chinese Allowing the importation of abusers. In the United States, China’s economic influence has led to disasters such as the collapse of American manufacturing, widespread theft of intellectual property, and the presence of slave-made products in American stores.
Putin’s assessment of China’s role in the U.S. economy echoes that of current President Joe Biden, who said as a candidate it would be “strange” to think of China as America’s rival.
“The idea that China is our competitor and that they’re going to beat us is bizarre,” Biden said in 2020. “We talk about China as a competitor, and we should help and benefit from that. But the idea that China is going to eat our lunch, remember the debate in the late 90s. You seem to be there, but do you remember that Japan was going to own us? Give us a break.”
The Biden family made millions of dollars from business deals in China.
The Biden administration has reflected the president’s ideas in policy. During a recent trip to China, Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the White House had no interest in “decoupling” the U.S. economy from the communist totalitarian system, saying he was “dispelling the notion of China as our host nation.” It is a priority to do so.” We are trying to contain them economically. ”
In stark contrast, former President Donald Trump, Biden’s rival in the 2024 presidential election, has promised to implement a “fundamental pro-American overhaul of tariffs and trade policy” if re-elected, including: This includes tariffs and other policies aimed at limiting China’s influence. American economy.
“We will remove China’s most-favored-nation trading status and adopt a four-year plan to phase out imports of all essential goods from China, from electronics to steel to pharmaceuticals.”
President Trump promised in March 2023. “This includes strong protections to ensure that China cannot circumvent the restrictions by passing goods through conduit countries (countries that do not produce products but suddenly sell large quantities of them). It goes through China, leaves China, and comes directly into our country. ”
.@DonaldJTrumpJr Biden’s incoherent trade stance brings tears to his eyes: “China has been stealing the American Dream from all of you, from your children, from your grandchildren, for decades, and this clown says that’s the problem.” Don’t you think so?” https://t.co/lM5clucOcC
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 21, 2019
“We will also adopt new rules to prevent U.S. companies from pouring investment into China, to prevent China from acquiring the U.S.… and federal contracts for any company that outsources to China. “will be abolished,” he concluded.
As president, Trump imposed tariffs on $34 billion worth of various Chinese products in 2018. Four years later, a Bloomberg report found that the tariffs stimulated the expansion of U.S. manufacturing, prompting U.S. companies to seek partnerships with overseas suppliers. Chinese. According to the report, new manufacturing plant construction in America increased by 120 percent from 2021 to 2022.
The Kremlin touted a friendly telephone conversation between Moscow and Beijing on Thursday, in which Mr. Xi and Mr. Putin reportedly touted the benefits of mutual trade. Putin reportedly called Xi on Lunar New Year.
The dictators “satisfiedly emphasized that bilateral trade exceeded the goal set by the leaders by more than $200 billion a year, reaching a record of $227.7 billion,” the Kremlin said. Said By reading out the conversation. “[T]The two Presidents expressed their mutual interest in promoting cooperation across all sectors, including energy, finance, infrastructure, transportation, industrial production, agriculture, humanitarian and sports exchanges. ”
