Marek Sierant: China is communism. Communism is a dictate. And unfortunately, this does not fit in the heads of certain politicians

Marek Sierant

As you know, the Communist President of China, Xi Jinping, made a European tour. In your opinion, what is the role of China in the context of this trip of Xi Jinping? The Newssky correspondent asked Marek Sierant, a correspondent of Polish Radio ZET, to comment.

What goals does China pursue through Xi’s tour of Europe?

First, so that there is no talk about it in Europe or the world, it should be realized that China has always lived with its interests in mind. That’s how it’s always been in its history, and the rest doesn’t bother him too much. No matter what Putin or Macron say, China only cares about its interests and profits. If China itself is not interested in something, it will not bother about it at all.

Second. China, represented by Xi Jinping, went on a European tour because of its difficult economic situation. China is starting to fall behind in advanced technology. We don’t see it yet, but there is a coalition that has imposed an embargo on China. China is not getting new technologies that it could copy, improve, and sell around the world cheaply or even at a considerable cost. This means that in this mode, the Chinese economy can last for ten years. For China to do well, it should have 5-6% GDP growth per year, and then it will be in the black. Now there is only 2-3% growth, and in the «old days» there was zero or even a minus, and this means that the social contract contributes to the loss of public funds, not earnings. This means that when there is no will, creativity, or democracy, the refrigerator must be full. The Chinese are used to the fact that the refrigerator is not empty, and when something happens to it, dangerous consequences can arise.

Third. China is going to Europe to attract European investors so that they don’t run away from the Chinese market. For China, considerable competition is growing from relatively smaller Vietnam and the Philippines. I am not even talking about India, which has overtaken China in terms of population. Not only that, but India vs. China is also a swallow of democracy in that region; Indians are more educated and creative than the Chinese, and that means they will work for as little or maybe less money for Western multinationals. This means that China has got problems because businesses are fleeing from China, some technology is also fleeing from China, and Europeans and other Western countries are buying less from China because they think it is dangerous for their economies. This is exactly what Xi Jinping has tried to change, and the motive of his tour of Europe is to improve trade. Only through trade can China introduce internal expansion, strengthen the communist system within the state, and enhance relations around the world. He will not be able to do that without economic influence.

Why does Europe tolerate Xi’s tricks?

Europe has not yet expressed itself sharply in the direction of Xi Jinping, due to a certain dependence on China. The global interdependencies between the Chinese and European markets, as well as the American market, mean that everyone will lose. The US, whose economy is constantly growing, can withstand it, but not everything is simple in Europe; it will not cope yet. Europe is bureaucratized and has many restrictions for business, which, for example, do not exist in the USA, Xi understands this, and China plays on this.

Europe prefers an end to China’s relations with Russia, or China’s influence on the Russian Federation, which wants to destroy us. And China plays its own game—it agrees with everything and makes certain curtsies towards Europe, but we must remember the main motive of China: its existence, which is the most important thing for it. The reason for China’s existence is the layered coalition of dictators around the world. China has always been an antagonist of the Western world—America and Europe. And everyone must realize this. China believes that democracy and Western societies have given themselves the hegemony of governing the world and exporting democracy and the values of the Western world to other countries. And China is convinced that this is wrong and gives itself the right to oppose it. And unfortunately, some politicians forget about it. China does not forget about this but enjoys the double game.

At the same time, it needs trade because it survives thanks to trade, expands on world markets, and is a global player, and at the same time understands that sanctions will weaken it and deprive it of its leadership position in the world. As for Russia, it is not beneficial for China for the war to end quickly because it wants to weaken the Russian Federation as well, instead, so that it does not die quickly. China requires Russia as an ally, as a resource base, and as a large territory for the transit of goods to the West, for example, from Belarus to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, etc.

And China, mind you, opened large offices in the south of Europe—China wants to buy Greek ports; it invests a lot in Hungary and Serbia in the Balkans. The Greek ports are close to Serbia and Hungary, and this can be a bridgehead for its influence on European politics—for example, the construction of factories, etc. So, China is forced to look for new opportunities for itself.

Aren’t Western leaders afraid of Chinese influence on civilized societies?

And this is the last point. China is Communist. Communism is a dictate. And unfortunately, this does not fit in the heads of certain politicians. Instead, there is one thing that the West is very afraid of but does not say out loud. When I was a young man, I was impressed by French President Chirac’s trip to China. He kept asking the Chinese when they would build democracy. The Chinese responded in agreement. We will build a democracy, they’ve said, and respect human rights, and people will work for big money, not a bowl of rice. And at the same time, there is free movement of people around the world. Are you ready to accept a mass of Chinese in Europe, for example, economic refugees in the amount of 10 or 30 million? Since then, the West has stopped pressuring China for democracy and started trading. And so, it exists to this day.

What unites Russia and China? How can you say it briefly?

China needs Russia, because, without Russia, the puzzles of the layered Communist dictators’ international cannot be solved. After all, this is the largest territory in the world and the largest state in the sense of territory. However, as we can see today, it is not so powerful. China hoped otherwise and, at first, did not believe in real analytical research but believed in fairy tales. And it seems that in China, as well as in Russia, not everything is good with analytics, as it was in the Soviet Union when the leaders of the state brought such analytics that they wanted to read and not what exists. The fault of the West is that they do not know how to use it. Instead, the Americans, who gave China little time to decide on helping Russia, are beginning to press. Are they ready to sacrifice the sales markets of their goods in the West for the sake of the Russian Federation? And, officially, China will not help Russia.

China will help Russia through a country we have somewhat forgotten about: North Korea. Everything that will be produced in China can go to North Korea, be signed by some North Korean brand, and then go to Russia. Of course, these will not be large volumes that would be official, but some things can be sent to Russia in this way. China will say that we are on no side here, and North Korea is an independent state, and we cannot help it because they are our brothers in terms of communism and historical ties. Don’t ask us to turn away from everyone because of the war in Ukraine. Let’s do trade, it’s about trade! Of course, the West will conduct investigations that will last months or years, and the Russian Federation and China can use that time for their purposes.

It’s no secret that Iran will soon have an atomic bomb; North Korea has it, and China is working on its arsenal expansion. So, we will have a Comintern of dictator states in the international arena, which has nuclear weapons, and then the talks will take on a tougher character. Today, China invests a lot of money into the army, which is already better than the Russian one, but it was built in the context of China’s excessive appetite for Taiwan. And while the war in Ukraine continues, China will not dare touch Taiwan. But as soon as the war in Ukraine ends, then China will risk everything with one card, because then it will not have to think about foreign markets and survival, because, from a political point of view, it will be profitable for China’s society to start this war. And for a certain time, there will be no bread, but there will be a show. China had wars from time to time because they had to give their people something to do. So, they will focus on the war economy and cooperate with the rest of the dictators around the world (South America: Venezuela, Cuba, and Africa—South Africa), then for the Western world it will become hot and it will have to direct huge funds to contain Russia and China and go to negotiations and concessions.

How do you think future relations between Europe and China will develop?

It will be very difficult for Europe and the Western world to conduct politics with China. This is evidenced by Xi Jinping’s meetings with Macron (Emmanuel Macron – ed.) and then his visits to Serbia and Hungary.

China does not lack money, resources, and brains for a cunning multi-vector policy with Europeans in almost all spheres of life—cultural, political, legal, economic, etc.—in a global sense. Russia does everything stupidly, weakly, and very cruelly. And even here, the West cannot show its resolve and determination. It is more difficult with China, and when China sees it, it pushes Russia to do stupid things. China says to the West, – yes, I support you because no one needs war. I can ask Russia to come down somewhat, but it is necessary for you to give in here or there. China uses Russia as a resource both in international politics and as a source of minerals cheap gas, and gasoline.

The only hope is that India, a historical enemy of China, will develop dynamically and push China away from world politics. And I hope that India will soon reach such a level of development that it will become a competitor for China, which China didn’t foresee. This trend is visible now. So, the West has to pull the Chinese game on itself while at the same time to strengthen India. To have such an argument, we can always trade you for India, and China does not expect that. Let’s see how it goes.

So, to summarize, the purpose of Xi Jinping’s visit is the survival of Europe and China. Here, China is trying to play for time and stop the investment flight.

Maryna Kovalchuk, deputy editor-in-chief (Central Europe and Canada), and head of the V5 Media project, spoke.

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