Congressman Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) says Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s latest meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is a sign the two leaders are bringing their countries together into an axis of authoritarian nations.
Putin greeted Xi at a meeting in Moscow on Monday. Xi’s Russia visit, which is set to run through to Thursday, is his first visit to Russia since Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described Xi’s visit to Russia as an effort to promote a peaceful end to the ongoing fighting in Ukraine. But Waltz said Xi’s visit will actually serve a longer-term goal of solidifying a partnership and power alignment between Russia and China.
“I think in the short term, you know, China’s trying to insert itself into the Ukraine conflict and present itself as a peacemaker,” Waltz told NTD News on the sidelines of a House Republican Party retreat in Orlando, Florida on Monday.
“But really, I think in the longer term, it’s cementing this alignment of authoritarianism that we’re seeing with China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, with the [Chinese Communist Party] as the leader of the pack and the leader of the axis of evil, so to speak.”
No Limits’ Partnership
China and Russia are not in a formal military alliance, but the two countries announced a “no limits” partnership with Russia just weeks before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The ties between China and Russia have seemed to increase in months since Russian forces entered Ukraine.
“This ‘No Limits partnership,’ I think we should take it seriously,” Waltz said. “I mean, it’s everything up in space, where they have a joint agreement, the Russians and Chinese, to put a manned station on the moon by the end of this decade, that has military and economic implications to its oil and gas sector to the raw materials.”
“And then, of course, the military where we’re increasingly seeing both the Chinese and Russians conduct joint military drills. This is, frankly, Xi stepping into what he sees as a vacuum of American leadership. And we should be taking a much more forceful stance about it.”
By Ryan Morgan
