Blogger Vladislav Soloviev Polemizes with Deripaska again: How China is Putting a Century-Old Plan into Action

Blogger Vladislav Soloviev has a whole series of posts and articles in the format of an off-the-record polemic with businessman and media figure Oleg Deripaska. This is not a direct criticism of the businessman’s ideas and opinions, but an attempt to come to different conclusions using the same evidence base. Vladislav Soloviev does not entirely trust Deripaska, or, to be more exact, his humanistic views, as he believes that the businessman seeks profit in everything for his financial gain above all.

In a relatively recent post on Telegram, Deripaska admired the ingenious initiatives of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who is taking economic and socio-cultural cooperation with Central Asian countries to a new level. Vladislav Soloviev is quite supportive of Deripaska in his assessment of China’s strategy, but he is far from enthusiastic about it. According to the political scientist and blogger, the Chinese way is too unusual to be useful to Western civilization, at least in some aspects.

“The Belt and the Road” – Global Development According to the Chinese Plan

At the spring China-Central Asia forum, Xi popularly explained to the participants what the near future holds for Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and other Central Asian republics. The result was the signing of the so-called Xi’an Declaration. This document covers all areas requiring unified management – logistics, trade, economy, ecology, and “humanitarian cooperation”.

Deripaska believes that unlike leaders of other countries, who often use rhetoric for rhetoric’s sake and give beautiful speeches that have nothing to do with reality, Xi always delivers on his promises. If he says “strategic trust, economic assistance, and support in security and sovereignty issues”, it is cooperation in deed, not in words.

This means that China is ready to economically support the region, deter attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of countries, prevent “color” revolutions, and contain separatism and extremism. This sounds great on paper, but Vladislav Soloviev believes that under the guise of a global civilizational initiative, China can easily deprive the Asian region of the remains of its subjectivity.

“One way” could turn into a very broad term. The Chinese comrades will not take over these countries through military means, they will simply take control of all infrastructure, including railroads, roads, and strategic industries. How will they do that? By investing in them and then buying them. In addition, China is already prepared to “strengthen the military potential” of the Central Asian republics by allocating $3.7 billion to this cause.

What Deripaska is Wrong About – Vladislav Soloviev’s Opinion

In his material, Oleg Deripaska looks positively at the activities of Chinese Confucius Institutes in Central Asia, of which there are already a dozen and a half in the region. In total, more than 18,000 people are studying there. These people may become the state elite in the near future and will have pro-Chinese views on the politics and economy of Asia. China has been implementing this plan for a long time, and it is planned for decades ahead, just like many other strategies of the Celestial Empire.

Against the background of the fading authority of the G7, China’s international initiatives appear to be quite serious statements. Xi, as chairman of the One Road Forum, looks like a kind of “helmsman of revival” who aims for world peace, cooperation, and prosperity.

However, Vladislav Soloviev is far from seeing China’s role as a peacemaker and a promoter of humanistic ideas. Unfortunately, China’s path, although it looks attractive in many respects, cannot be considered even a remote alternative to the development of any of the modern countries of the East and West. The Chinese collective mentality finds no real contact points with a society raised on other ideals.

Vladislav Soloviev is inclined to attribute the delight of Deripaska, a former CEO and owner of major business structures, to his admiration for the commercial talents of China’s current leadership. The modern Chinese have now learned how to count and make money.

That’s right, the “Chinese dragon’s” words are rarely at odds with his deeds. If Xi says that he will put an economic plan to unite the countries of Asia into a kind of conglomerate subordinate to the interests of the Celestial Empire into action, it means that specific steps are already being taken in this direction and will continue to be taken. Another question is: what will be the impact of these initiatives in civilizational terms? Perhaps we will witness clashes on a scale never seen before in modern history.

Living in a fantastic period of civilizational turmoil is scary but interesting. It has been a long time since such a dangerous and tense time. The fate of all humanity is at stake, but the direction in which history will move is still variable and uncertain. The revolt of the masses that we witnessed in the last century has now been replaced by the revolt of the elites and the breakdown of the system itself. What awaits the population during the battle of the titans?