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Members of delegations, led by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, attend a meeting in Beijing, China Feb 4, 2022. (Photo: Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS) - 

China and Russia proclaimed a deep strategic partnership on Friday (Feb 4) to balance what they portrayed as the malign global influence of the United States as China's President Xi Jinping hosted Russia's Vladimir Putin on the opening day of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

In a joint statement, the two countries affirmed that their new relationship was superior to any political or military alliance of the Cold War era.

"Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no 'forbidden' areas of cooperation," they declared, announcing plans to collaborate in a host of areas including space, climate change, artificial intelligence and control of the internet.

The agreement marked the most detailed and assertive statement of Russian and Chinese resolve to work together - and against the United States - to build a new international order based on their own interpretations of human rights and democracy.

The statement was steeped in ideological discourse and it was not clear whether it would immediately translate into an increase in tangible and practical cooperation - although Putin trumpeted a new gas deal with China on Friday - or was intended as more of a statement of general policy intent.

The United States responded coolly. Asked about the meeting between Xi and Putin, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden has his own relationship with China.

Referring to a massing of Russian troops near the Ukraine border, she said the US focus is currently on working with partners in case Russia invades Ukraine, adding "we've also conveyed that destabilising conflict in Europe would impact China's interests all over the world".

Daniel Russel of the Asia Society think tank, who served as the US State Department's top diplomat for East Asia in the Obama administration, said Xi and Putin were "announcing their determination to stand together and to stand against the US and the West - ready to withstand sanctions and contest American global leadership".

While not formally allied, the two "are making common cause as a tactical matter to better defend their respective interests and their authoritarian systems from Western pressure", he said.

Jonathan Eyal of the London-based Royal United Services Institute said the declaration marked a "frontal rebuttal" of the US and Western view of the world and a possible building block towards a military alliance.

"They both feel cornered and they feel their moment has arrived to state their vision of the world and promote it aggressively."

The two countries have moved closer together as both have come under pressure from the West on issues including their human rights records and Russia's military build-up near Ukraine. The timing of their announcement was highly symbolic, at a China-hosted Olympics that the United States has subjected to a diplomatic boycott.

In the lengthy document - nearly 5,400 words in English translation - each went significantly further than before in backing the other on flashpoints of tension with the West.

Russia voiced its support for China's stance that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and opposition to any form of independence for the island. Moscow and Beijing also voiced their opposition to the AUKUS alliance between Australia, Britain and the United States, saying it increased the danger of an arms race in the region.

China joined Russia in calling for an end to NATO enlargement and supported its demand for security guarantees from the West - issues at the heart of Moscow's confrontation with the United States and its allies over Ukraine.

The two countries expressed concern about "the advancement of US plans to develop global missile defence and deploy its elements in various regions of the world, combined with capacity building of high-precision non-nuclear weapons for disarming strikes and other strategic objectives".

Elsewhere, without naming Washington, they criticised attempts by "certain states" to establish global hegemony, fan confrontation and impose their own standards of democracy.

Scott Kennedy, a China expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that despite the rhetoric, there would be limits to the alliance.

"China is willing to stand with Russia through thin but not thick. This collaboration works as long as it entails few costs. They are expanding their commercial ties, extolling a similar anti-American/pro-authoritarian narrative, and hoping their friendship weakens the West’s military position in Europe and Asia," he said, adding, "If a war breaks out over Ukraine or Taiwan, we can expect this partnership to fracture."

In the technology arena, Russia and China said they were ready to strengthen cooperation on artificial intelligence and information security.

They said they believed that "any attempts to limit their sovereign right to regulate national segments of the Internet and ensure their security are unacceptable".

Meanwhile Russian state energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft on Friday agreed new gas and oil supply deals with Beijing worth tens of billions of dollars.

The deals capitalise on Putin's drive to diversify Russian energy exports away from the West, which started shortly after he came to power in 1999. Since then Russia has become China's top energy supplier and cut its reliance on the West for revenues.

The Kremlin said the presidents also discussed the need to broaden trade in national currencies because of unpredictability surrounding the use of the dollar.

US President Joe Biden has said Russian companies could be cut off from the ability to trade in dollars as part of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine.

Moscow denies any such intention, but has used a build-up of more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine's border to grab the attention of the West and press its demands for security guarantees//CNA

FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a company building in Shanghai, China November 16, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song - 

The US House of Representatives on Friday (Feb 4) narrowly passed a multibillion-dollar Bill aimed at increasing American competitiveness with China and boosting US semiconductor manufacturing, despite Republican opposition.

The Democratic-majority House backed the "America COMPETES Act of 2022" by 222-210, almost entirely along party lines. One Republican joined Democrats in voting for the measure and one Democrat voted no.

Passage set up negotiations with the Senate on a compromise version of the legislation, which must pass both chambers before it can be sent to the White House for President Joe Biden's signature.

The talks could take weeks or months, although Biden urged quick action in a statement praising what he called "vital" legislation.

"Every day we delay we fall farther behind and that increases our domestic national security risk," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told a news conference.

The vote took place hours after the opening ceremony for the Beijing Winter Olympics, amid criticism in Congress of the International Olympic Committee for awarding the Games to China. Human rights groups have long criticised China's rights record, allegations China denies.

The House Bill authorises almost US$300 billion for research and development, including US$52 billion to subsidize semiconductor manufacturing and research into the key components used in autos and computers. It also has US$45 billion over six years to ease supply-chain problems that have exacerbated shortages.

It includes changes to US trade rules intended to offset China's market-distorting trade practices, including by strengthening anti-dumping rules.

The Bill would authorise US$8 billion in US contributions to the Green Climate Fund, established by the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, to help developing countries cope.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters before the vote that she intended to begin negotiations with the Senate quickly.

"It is about making America ... self-sufficient when it comes to the supply chain, so that we're not depending on other countries," she said.

Raimondo said companies had told the administration that without the chips funding they would build manufacturing plants outside the United States.

The Semiconductor Industry Association praised the Bill.

House Republicans complained that Democrats did not include them in drafting the legislation. They harshly criticised the climate provisions and said they could be used to help Beijing, and accused Democrats of using the China measure to advance parts of Biden's economic agenda that could not pass the Senate.

House Democrats said Republicans had refused to engage with them while they wrote the legislation. Democrats note that their Bill includes all or part of more than 60 smaller measures that Republicans had co-sponsored.

The Senate passed its own Bill - the US Innovation and Competition Act - by 68-32 in June. Eighteen Republicans joined every Senate Democrat in voting yes. That legislation includes US$52 billion to increase domestic semiconductor production and authorises US$190 billion for US technology and research to compete with China//CNA

FILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian service member learns to use a M141 Bunker Defeat Munition weapon supplied by the United States during drills at the International Peacekeeping Security Centre near Yavoriv in the Lviv region, Ukraine, February 4, 2022. REUTERS/Roman Baluk/File Photo - 

Ukrainian troops on Friday (Feb 4) trained at the Yavoriv military base in western Ukraine, using anti-tank missiles, launchers and other military hardware delivered by the United States as part of a US$200 million security package.

Soldiers, some in white camouflage gear, fired missiles or stood observing, while military vehicles drove across a snowy landscape.

Ukraine has received planeloads of US military aid as it braces for a possible attack after Russia massed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's borders in recent weeks. Moscow denies planning any such offensive.

"These weapons will help stop military vehicles, damage them and in the urban environment they will allow us to destroy buildings where the enemy hides," said Andriy Bestyuk, spokesman for the General Staff of the Ukrainian army.

"If you want peace, get ready for war," said one soldier, whose face was covered and did not disclose his name.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Friday evening said that the next planeload of U.S. weapons was expected to arrive soon//CNA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau (not pictured) at the State Department in Washington, DC, US Feb 4, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Nicholas Kamm/Pool) -

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken goes to Asia next week for talks with Indo-Pacific allies, including a meeting of foreign ministers of the four-nation Quad, the State Department said on Friday (Feb 4).

Blinken is making the trip despite the mounting crisis over Ukraine and policy analysts say the aim is to show the Indo-Pacific region support and that pushing back against China's expanding influence remains Washington's top priority.

Blinken will leave Washington on Monday and be in Australia from Feb 9 to Feb 12 for the meeting of the Quad - the United States, Japan, India and Australia.

Blinken will then meet Pacific Island leaders in Fiji before heading to Hawaii to confer with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts to discuss the North Korea issue.

The State Department said the purpose of the trip was "to engage Indo-Pacific allies and partners to advance peace, resilience, and prosperity across the region and demonstrate that these partnerships deliver."

The trip was announced even as China and Russia proclaimed a deep strategic partnership on Friday to balance what they portrayed as the malign global influence of the United States.

The State Department said that in Fiji on Feb 12 Blinken would discuss the climate crisis, COVID-19, disaster assistance, and "ways to further our shared commitment to democracy, regional solidarity, and prosperity" with Pacific Island leaders.

He will be the first US secretary of state to visit Fiji since 1985.

A senior US official has said President Joe Biden's administration plans to start a new Pacific Islands initiative with allies and partners that would bring together regional countries to "raise our ambition in the region, including on climate, maritime, and transportation issues."

The official said it would at the same time finalise negotiations on Compacts of Free Association: agreements with three Pacific Island countries - the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau - that facilitate US military access. They are due to expire in 2023 in the case of the former two states and in 2024 in the case of Palau.

US Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell has said that the Pacific could be the part of the world most likely to see "strategic surprise" - comments apparently referring to possible Chinese ambitions to establish Pacific-island bases.

Washington had not done enough to assist the region and that there was a very short amount of time, Campbell said, to work with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and fellow Pacific power France, "to step up our game across the board."//CNA