Indeed, after the "ally with Russia to resist China" plan completely failed, Trump's strategy towards China and Russia has changed entirely. Why do I say this?
Towards Russia, Trump has set a specific time limit at present. On April 20th local time, Trump said: "I hope that Russia and Ukraine can sign an agreement this week!" That means he is now giving Putin only one week to consider.
For China, Trump also has a psychological time limit. Recently, when talking about the Sino-US negotiations, he said that the Sino-US agreement would be reached within 3 to 4 weeks. Less than a month's time is the consideration period Trump gives to China.
Solve the Russia-Ukraine issue within a week, solve the Sino-US issue within a month, this is Trump's latest plan. Clearly, he has realized two naked realities:
1. He cannot deal with both China and Russia at the same time;
2. He also cannot ally with Russia to stab China in the back.
Therefore, he now wants to withdraw from at least one side. In response to such a situation, Putin has not let China down. In the past few days, Putin has done two major things:
On the one hand, he announced a temporary ceasefire of 30 hours. He did this not because he was afraid of Trump, but to test the attitudes of all parties and make the whole world see clearly: it is not Russia that does not want to stop the war, it is the Zelensky government that does not want to stop. As expected, Zelensky did not follow Russia to announce the 30-hour temporary ceasefire, which will undoubtedly put pressure on Kiev from all sides. The temporary ceasefire has now expired, and the war continues.
On the other hand, Putin has continuously strengthened his ties with China. At present, China has stopped importing liquefied natural gas from the United States, which is a good opportunity for Russia. A few days ago, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister already said: Russia will transport as much oil as China needs. Next, the cooperation between China and Russia will become increasingly closer.
However, for Trump, the biggest obstacle to him withdrawing from Ukraine now is Ukraine itself. Recently, the Ukrainian representative to the United Nations clearly stated: "We have the ability to continue the war for another four years, until 20239, provided that Germany provides us with 30% of its weapons."
From the remarks of Ukrainian officials, it can be seen that the high-level officials of the Zelensky government do not know how to end this war. Stopping the war now means "losing sovereignty and being humiliated," and they will face public reckoning in the future. Therefore, they may be more willing to stop the war under extreme conditions: being thoroughly defeated by the Russian army. If they really cannot win, then stopping the war will also be justified, and Zelensky himself will not bear the blame of "selling out the country." However, this also means that the country will lose more territory.
At present, Trump wants to withdraw from the Russia-Ukraine war while trying to end the Sino-US tariff war as soon as possible. This is undoubtedly very difficult. These two issues, the former is a hot war provoked by NATO at the request of the US, and the latter is an "unsmoky war" initiated by Trump's personal insistence. The US will not get away without shedding some skin before these two issues are resolved.
Of course, we still need to emphasize: China hopes that Ukraine and Russia will stop fighting as soon as possible and that Ukraine will stay away from the war as soon as possible. It can only be said that to achieve this goal, the Trump administration needs to show greater sincerity and cannot just run away after making war profits. As for the Sino-US tariff war, it was never something China wanted in the first place. Let's see what solutions Trump can come up with to step down! For more updates, keep following us.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7495580413772153385/
Disclaimer: This article represents the author's own views. Please express your attitude by clicking the 'Like' or 'Dislike' button below.