The Russia-China Joint Statement on March 21, 2023 affirmed that the purpose and significance of the state visit of President and General Secretary of China Xi Jinping is to further consolidate and deepen the comprehensive, unlimited strategic partnership between Russia and China in the context of a complex, chaotic and unpredictable world. Russia and China pledged to cooperate more closely in economics, science and technology, diplomacy, security, defense, etc.
On March 18, 2023, the Chinese newspaper "People's Daily" published an article by President V. Putin, in which the Kremlin leader affirmed that President Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia was a "landmark event" and "reaffirmed the special nature of the Russia-China partnership".
Russia and China have identified the United States as their common opponent, even though there are still many differences, even contradictions, and a lack of trust between Russia and China on a number of issues. Moscow and Beijing have put their differences aside and cooperated closely to create a force to counter the United States. Please note: this is not only the perception of President V. Putin and President Xi Jinping, but also the perception of the Russian elite and the Chinese elite, and more broadly, the perception of the majority of Russians and the majority of Chinese people.
In fact, since March 20, 2023, the world has been divided into two lines: On one side is the US and its allies with the nucleus being NATO and G7, on the other side is the Beijing-Moscow axis with many developing countries (South), in which China is the core.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are the two largest powers in the Middle East (excluding Türkiye) and these two countries play a particularly important role in maintaining peace and stability in the region.(1).
Saudi Arabia is the country with the largest oil and gas reserves in the world and is also the world's largest oil exporter. Iran is also the world's leading oil exporter.
In terms of religion, Saudi Arabia is home to the two most important holy sites of Islam and is the center of Sunni Islam. Iran is the center of Shiite Islam. For more than a thousand years, Sunni Islam and Shiite Islam have been in a state of confrontation with each other.
Politically and security-wise, Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States, while Iran considers the United States an enemy (though not publicly).
In 2016, Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned of “divine revenge.” The Saudi embassy in Iran was then besieged and the two countries severed diplomatic relations.
On March 10, 2023, with the mediation of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran reached a historic reconciliation. In Beijing, China, Saudi Arabia and Iran signed and issued a joint statement. On April 6, 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran signed a joint statement, announcing the resumption of diplomatic relations, which took effect immediately.
Saudi Arabia and Iran have reopened embassies in Riyadh and Tehran and consulates in Jeddah and Mashhad.
The normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran has shaken the geopolitical structure of the Middle East in a way that is unfavorable to the US and Israel and beneficial to China and Russia. From being tightly controlled by the US in all aspects, the Middle East is entering a period of diversifying relations with the world's leading powers. The Middle East has awakened and is learning to take control of its own destiny.
In 1976, the seven leading industrialized countries, the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, held their first summit and have held annual meetings as usual.
G7 is an economic forum where leaders of the world's seven leading industrialized countries discuss economic issues of the group in particular and world economic issues in general with the aim of cooperating to overcome challenges and difficulties, ensuring stable and sustainable development of the world economy.
During the 3 days from May 19-21, 2023 in Hiroshima, Japan, G7 leaders still discussed economic issues, but anti-Russia and dealing with China became the dominant atmosphere. At the 2023 Summit, G7 leaders agreed to adopt three measures to tighten sanctions on Russia to force Russia to fail on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Regarding China, the Royal Institute of International Studies (Chatham House) commented: "Among the issues discussed at this conference, the biggest common concern is clearly the rise of China. The purpose of the discussion on this issue is to strengthen the resilience and common economic security of G7 members to deal with China's ability to use economic power to pressure other countries."(2).
Increasing the supply of weapons and finance to Ukraine while tightening sanctions on Russia to make Russia fail in the war in Ukraine and cooperating to deal with China and restrain China's development is the consistent ideology of the 2023 G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Since taking office as Prime Minister of India in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the US many times and worked with Presidents: Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. During previous visits to the US, Prime Minister Modi and the US presidents focused mainly on economic cooperation.
During Prime Minister N. Modi's state visit to the US from June 21 to 24, 2023, President J. Biden held a very special reception reserved for only a few heads of state. What is special is that the main purpose is not economic cooperation but defense and security cooperation between the Americans and Indians.
The US and India have reached a landmark agreement on bilateral defense cooperation. The US will transfer advanced military technology to India.(3). New Delhi and Washington signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) in 2018, which provides for interoperability between the two militaries and the sale of advanced US technology to India. The US and India also signed the Basic Exchange Cooperation Agreement (BECA) to share advanced military, logistics and geospatial mapping between the two countries.(4).
On June 23, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Private Military Group, commanded more than 25,000 gunmen with hundreds of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and shoulder-fired missiles to march toward Moscow with the intention of mutiny. At about 9:00 p.m. on June 23, 2023, when the Wagner army was 200km from Moscow, it suddenly stopped and returned to its barracks near the Russia-Ukraine border.
Along the way, Wagner rebels shot down helicopters and transport planes of the Russian Army, killing 37 pilots and crew. Y. Prigozhin, the leader of the rebellion, contacted the commanders of intelligence, security, special police, and elite special units of Russia and proposed that these forces cooperate with the rebels under his command to attack the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Russian Army, then force President Putin to make concessions or even surrender.
Russian President V. Putin called this an act of betrayal of the Fatherland, a "stab in the back".
In Russia, representatives of the regions, top politicians, Catholic leaders, public figures, the military, intelligence, security forces, police, political elites, social activists and the people all protested against Prigozhin's betrayal of the Fatherland, uniting behind Putin.
Prigozhin's mutiny did not affect Russia's Special Military Operation in Ukraine, but Russia's international reputation suffered.
On August 23, 2023, Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash.
On August 18, 2023, at Camp David, Maryland, USA, US President J. Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol signed a Joint Statement on strengthening close cooperation in the fields of defense and security between the US, Japan and South Korea to deal with common challenges.
With the August 18, 2023, US-Japan-ROK Joint Statement, Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul established a close security cooperation mechanism for the first time. Therefore, many people consider the August 18, 2023 Joint Statement as the US-Japan-ROK Treaty.
The joint statement of the three countries named "Spirit of Camp David" on August 18, 2023, for the first time, the US, Japan, and South Korea reached an agreement to strengthen security cooperation including annual trilateral military exercises, regular meetings between the leaders of the three countries and senior cabinet officials, especially close coordination in building and operating the anti-ballistic missile defense system.(5). The joint statement emphasized: The US, Japan and South Korea will “Strengthen the strategic cooperation of the US-Japan and US-South Korea alliances, promote trilateral security cooperation to a new level… Our mission is to ensure that Japan, South Korea and the US maintain unity of purpose and action”.
BRICS is the largest emerging economies group of about 190 developing countries (also known as the South), the founding members include: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
According to the World Bank (WB), by 2022, BRICS will account for 42% of the world's population, 30% of the world's land area, 23% of the world's GDP and 18% of global trade.(6).
BRICS Summit 2023 Theme “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Rapid, Sustainable Growth and Global Multilateralism”.
For the first time, the BRICS Summit, as the meeting was titled, focused on cooperation between BRICS countries and Africa, where there is a fierce competition for interests and influence among the world's three leading powers: the US, Russia and China.
Regarding the scale of the BRICS 2023 Summit in South Africa: in addition to the 5 BRICS countries, leaders of the G7 Southern (developing) countries were invited to attend, including Vietnam. Thus, this is the first time the BRICS countries have held an expanded Summit on an unprecedented scale.(7).
At the 2023 Summit in South Africa, the leaders of the 5 BRICS countries unanimously agreed to accept 6 new members: Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Ethiopia and Argentina. Thus, from August 2023, BRICS will have 11 members.
There are currently 23 countries that have applied to join BRICS (in ASEAN there are Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam).
This is a historic turning point in Vietnam-US relations in particular, and in Vietnam's foreign policy in general.
President Joe Biden's visit to Vietnam coincides with the 50th anniversary of Vietnam and the US signing the 1973 Paris Agreement ending US military involvement in Vietnam and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership (2013-2023).
During the visit, based on the interests of the two peoples and the desire to enhance cooperation for the goals of peace, cooperation and sustainable development in the new context, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joe Biden, on behalf of the two countries, adopted a Joint Statement, establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development.
The Joint Statement of the two countries is an extremely important document with 10 pillars, covering all areas of cooperation in the bilateral relationship. This shows that the cooperation between the two countries has not only been expanded but also gone into greater depth and substance; not only on the bilateral cooperation level but also on regional and global issues.
October 7, 2023, Hamas forces(8)launched a large-scale military attack on Israel in three directions: by land, sea, and air. The surprise attack killed hundreds of Israelis, and Hamas also took more than 200 Israelis and foreigners in Israel hostage. This is the largest military attack by the Hamas movement on Israel since the organization was founded in 1987. American and Western public opinion compared the event on October 7, 2023 to the terrorist bombing in the US on September 11, 2001.
Both the US and Israel were completely surprised by the large-scale, perfectly organized, and daring military attack by the Hamas movement on October 7, 2023.
Since its founding in 1948, the State of Israel has waged numerous wars of aggression against Arab countries; occupied Palestinian land, occupied East Jerusalem; and built Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. Nearly 20 years under Israeli control, more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have suffered: unemployment is 50% and only 10% of the population in the Gaza Strip has access to clean water.
In December 2022, Netanyahu returned as Prime Minister of Israel – a far-right government. The Netanyahu government allowed Jews to settle in the West Bank of the Gaza Strip. In July 2023, the Netanyahu government launched the largest military operation in 20 years in the West Bank city of Jenin, causing more than 100 Palestinian casualties.
From October 8, 2023, Israel attacked Hamas. Israel's real goal was to destroy Hamas's headquarters and main military force in the Gaza Strip, that is, to eliminate Hamas's existence. From October 8 to the first half of December 2023, after Israel's attacks, more than 17,000 Palestinians were killed, including many women and children.
At the invitation of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and his wife, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong and his wife, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping and his wife paid a State visit to Vietnam from December 12 to 13, 2023.
The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping takes place in the context of the 15th anniversary of Vietnam and China becoming a Comprehensive Strategic Partner. And this is the third time President Xi Jinping has visited Vietnam.
During the visit, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping held talks with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong, and met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.
The Vietnam-China Joint Statement affirmed: Looking to the future, the Chinese side emphasized the persistence of its policy of friendship with Vietnam, considering Vietnam a priority direction in neighborly diplomacy.
The Vietnamese side affirmed that it always considers the Vietnam-China relationship as a top priority in Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization and diversification. This is the strategic choice of both sides.
To continue deepening and enhancing the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership, the two sides agreed to promote the overall coordination role of the Vietnam-China Bilateral Cooperation Steering Committee, actively promote cooperation in the coming time, focusing on 6 cooperation directions, including:Higher political trust; More substantial defense and security cooperation; Deeper substantive cooperation; More solid social foundation; Closer multilateral coordination; Disagreements are better controlled and resolved.
Hanoi, December 2023
[1] Iran has an area of 1,648,000 km2, about 80 million people. Saudi Arabia has an area of 2,240,000 km2, about 45 million people.
[2] According to the Cfr.org website at the end of May 2023.
[3] Among dozens of allies, the US only transfers high-end military technology to the UK and Israel. India is the third country that the US has given this special privilege to.
[4] According to the website moderndiplomacy.eu (June 7, 2023).
[5] According to Straits Times, August 21, 2023.
[6] According to British macro consulting firm Acorn Macro Consulting, in 2022, BRICS will account for 31.5% of global GDP, surpassing G7's GDP of 30.7% of global GDP.
[7] The 67 countries invited to the BRICS Summit 2023 are all Southern (developing) countries. French President M. Macron expressed his desire to attend the meeting to the host country (South Africa), but the BRICS countries did not agree to invite the French President (a member of the G7).
[8] Hamas – the radical Sunni Palestinian Islamic branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Palestinian state has two branches: moderate Fatah in the West Bank, and extremist Hamas in Gaza, which pursues the path of using force to eliminate the state of Israel, and is at odds with Jewish Israel.