Russian State Duma First Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs Committee Aleksey Chepa said relations between Washington and Beijing had reached the limits of their ability to exert pressure on each other.
Chepa made the assessment following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States on September 23–25 at the invitation of US President Donald Trump. The Russian lawmaker said it was significant that the talks in Washington concluded without new developments likely to have major repercussions.
Chepa argued that the United States could no longer impose conditions unilaterally by relying on its economic, technological and military superiority, and said Beijing also did not want a destructive conflict.
Chepa said the United States and China were increasingly being forced to negotiate and that the two countries had reaffirmed their commitment to stable relations and the coexistence of major powers.
According to the Russian lawmaker, Donald Trump prioritizes pragmatism and transactional diplomacy. Chepa said this approach had strengthened the search for mutual understanding between Washington and Beijing rather than direct confrontation.
Chepa identified Taiwan and the Strait of Hormuz as particularly important issues in the relationship. He said the United States had no interest in going to war directly with China, while Beijing was interested in stable energy supplies from the Middle East.
Chepa said objective conditions had emerged for pragmatic agreements on these issues and noted that, if the current trend continued, the process could move beyond a temporary pause and develop into broader multilateral easing of tensions.
Chepa said an approach that envisions major powers agreeing on the rules of coexistence rather than dictating conditions was once again gaining prominence in world politics.
