East-West relations are broken

Politicians, including D66 MP Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, scientists and institutes have been hit by Chinese sanctions after the European Union announced measures against China for the oppression of Uyghurs. America and Canada have done the same. In Alaska, a quarrel broke out between US Secretary of State Blinken and his Chinese colleague. Meanwhile, Russia is hit by European sanctions for the attempted assassination of Alexei Navalny. President Biden calls his Russian colleague Putin a murderer and wants sanctions as punishment for Russian interference in the presidential elections.

Relations between East and West are broken. China and Russia formed an anti-Western coalition this week and want a meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council to prevent further escalation.

Welcome to the new battleground of Eastern state capitalist autocracies against Western liberal democracies. China and Russia reject any interference in their internal affairs, while America and Europe beat the drums for human rights. At stake is a new world order.

Two sides of the same coin

China wants to become world number 1 and is dragging Russia in its wake. The West is on the defensive. Are we seeing here the last convulsions of principled Western diplomacy in which human rights are at the heart? Since values ​​and power are two sides of the same coin, this indeed appears to be the case.

The battle is still relatively harmless for now, but it will become more difficult as countries threaten each other economically or militarily. There is a good chance that this will happen, as China and Russia are strongly opposed to any interference in their internal affairs.

Russia’s trump card is the gas valve. This is precisely why Trump and now Biden are against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline between Russia and Germany. China’s trump card is its control over the entire chain, from raw materials to products on which the Western world depends. Both are trying to divide Europe through propaganda, subversive activities and vaccine diplomacy and to separate this continent from America. If this is successful, Europe will become a conquest of China, Russian influence will increase, and our way of life will be put under pressure.

Faced with geopolitical reality

The solution is simple: closer cooperation between the Union and like-minded people like the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. This is precisely why Blinken came to Brussels this week to restore relations with the Union and revitalize NATO. Europeans must face up to this new geopolitical reality. It also means that the Netherlands must put aside its aversion to trade deals. These are no longer needed to achieve one percent more economic growth, but to form geopolitical blocs and protect our way of life.

Eurosceptic politicians in particular must realize that individual countries are too small to play this game. You need the Union for raw power politics in order to maintain our prosperity and our way of life. Yes, this includes the recognition that insisting on human rights, however justified they may be, ultimately does nothing. Unless countries around the world are prepared to take joint action.

Rob de Wijk is Professor of International Relations and Security at Leiden University and founder of The Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS). He writes on international relations every week. Read his columns here.