What China Wants*:

“Both China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Mr Putin want to carve up the world into spheres of influence dominated by a few big countries. China would run East Asia, Russia would have a veto over European security and America would be forced back home. This alternative order would not feature universal values or human rights, which Mr Xi and Mr Putin see as a trick to justify Western subversion of their regimes.” - The war in Ukraine will determine how China sees the world/The Economist March 19, 2022

“Some of the strategy to achieve this global order is already discernible in Xi’s speeches. Politically, Beijing would project leadership over global governance and international institutions, split Western alliances, and advance autocratic norms at the expense of liberal ones… Economically, it would weaken the financial advantages that underwrite US hegemony… Militarily, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would field a world-class force with bases around the world that could defend China’s interests in most regions and even in new domains like space, the poles, and the deep sea. The fact that aspects of this vision are visible in high-level speeches is strong evidence that China’s ambitions are not limited to Taiwan or to dominating the Indo-Pacific. The “struggle for mastery,” once confined to Asia, is now over the global order and its future. If there are two paths to hegemony—a regional one and a global one—China is now pursuing both.” - The long game: China’s grand strategy to displace American order. By Rush Doshi/Brookings August 2, 2021 (Doshi is currently President Biden's National Security Council as Director for China)

“At least for now, [Xi] isn’t working to overthrow democracies and replace them with revolutionary or autocratic governments. But it is clear he wishes to forge a “new type of international relations,” as he calls it, based on altered perceptions of what makes for good government. ‘Each country is unique with its own history, culture and social system, and none is superior to the other,’ Xi said in a January speech to the World Economic Forum. ‘What does ring the alarm is arrogance, prejudice and hatred; it is the attempt to impose hierarchy on human civilization or to force one’s own history, culture and social system upon others.’ …In other words: Don’t preach that democracy stuff to us, our system is every bit as valid.” What does Xi want? By Michael Schuman/Politico October 8, 2021  

“At an April 1st summit between China and the European Union, China demanded that the EU and members stop supporting multinational, coordinated statements about Chinese rights abuses in such global forums as the UN Human Rights Council.” - The war makes China uncomfortable. European leaders don’t care/The Economist April 2, 2022

What Russia Wants:

 “What's Putin's problem with NATO? For Russia's leader the West's 30-member defensive military alliance has one aim - to split society in Russia and ultimately destroy it…Ahead of the war, he demanded that NATO turn the clock back to 1997 and reverse its eastward expansion, removing its forces and military infrastructure from member states that joined the alliance from 1997 and not deploying ‘strike weapons near Russia's borders’. That means Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Baltics.” Why has Russia invaded Ukraine and what does Putin want? By Paul Kirby/BBC News April 14, 2022

“Having witnessed Mr Putin's willingness to lay waste European cities to achieve his aims, Western leaders are now under no illusion. President Joe Biden has labelled him a war criminal and the leaders of both Germany and France see this war as a turning point in the history of Europe. ..German Chancellor Olaf Scholz believes ‘Putin wants to build a Russian empire... he wants to fundamentally redefine the status quo within Europe in line with his own vision. And he has no qualms about using military force to do so’.” Why has Russia invaded Ukraine and what does Putin want? By Paul Kirby/BBC News  April 14, 2022

What Can Be Done About It?

Engage and cooperate with these governments when we can, diversify supply chains so that we’re not overly dependent on either country, continue to promote global trade, punish and help defend against Russia’s military aggression in Europe, continue supporting multinational, coordinated statements about human rights abuses in such global forums as the UN Human Rights Council, increase skills-based immigration to address labor shortages and promote cultural exchange, strengthen cross-country and regional alliances to counter big-country bullying and intimidation. That’s the easy part.

The hard part, for me, is what to do about Taiwan. I’m doubtful about the merits of going to war against China to counter an attack on Taiwan. But if an attack is imminent, I hope the US puts out a welcome mat to any Taiwanese who wants to come here.

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* The ‘What China Wants’ section is from a previous post.  The following is from subsequent reading:

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has articulated plans to reshape the international order in his country's favor on the back of the war in Ukraine…[Xi] criticized the ‘wanton use of unilateral sanctions’... called on all countries to reject…’group politics and bloc confrontation’, a reference to NATO and other military alliances Beijing sees as consolidating in the East…’practices of decoupling, supply disruption and maximum pressure [are bound to fail]; so are the attempts to forge small cliques or to stoke conflict and confrontation along ideological lines’…” - Xi Jinping Pushes China's Own Vision for 'Global Security' By John Feng/Newsweek.  April 21, 2022  

“China seeks to become a leader in global internet governance and to promote the idea of “cyber sovereignty”—that a state should exert control over the internet within its borders… China’s domestic internet offers an alternative to existing, freer models of internet governance, and Beijing also uses its influence at the United Nations and other forums to push countries to adopt more closed internets. Meanwhile, Chinese corporations such as Huawei and CloudWalk have supplied repressive governments in Venezuela and Zimbabwe with surveillance tools like facial recognition technology.” - China’s Approach to Global Governance. Council on Foreign Relations, 2020