Nikolai Patrushev pays lighting-fast visit to China to discuss strategic issues

Russia is ready to provide military assistance to China in the event of US aggression in the Asia-Pacific region. This could possibly be done as part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation response forces.

Patrushev's lightning visit to China after SCO summit

Nikolai Patrushev, the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, spent two days in China, where he met with Chinese colleagues in two areas:

for strategic stability — Yang Jiechi, head of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China;

for public security and law and order — member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, secretary of the Central Political and Legal Committee Guo Shengkun.

According to Xinhua, the meetings were held as part of the implementation of the decisions reached as a result of the bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping at the SCO summit in Uzbekistan.

The Putin-Xi meeting ended on September 15, and Patrushev's visit followed immediately afterwards. This speaks to the importance of the problems that Russia and China are currently facing.

Russia and China have thus conducted the 17th round of consultations on strategic security and the 7th meeting dedicated to issues of law enforcement and security cooperation.

Russia and China cooperate closely in such important areas as:

• national security,
• struggle against terrorism, drug trafficking,
• struggle against transnational crime.

Guo Shengkun noted that the state of affairs in the world underwent rapid and profound changes, and was still far from achieving universal security and common development.

The Chinese representative proposes to work together to address various security risks and concerns, and promote Sino-Russian law enforcement and security cooperation.

Patrushev said the parties agreed to "expand the exchange of information on countering extremism and foreign attempts to undermine the constitutional order of both countries in order to undermine the independent policy of Russia and China in the service of their national interests."

Patrolling operations and joint exercises

Patrushev and Yang Jiechi agreed that the United States was escalating tension in the Asia-Pacific region, TASS said with reference to the Russian Security Council.

They agreed to continue military cooperation, including joint military exercises and joint patrols against the background of USA's pledge to defend Taiwan in the event of China's possible invasion of the island.

"This is something bigger than just cooperation. This is a pre-party before full-fledged cooperation in the event of hostilities in Southeast Asia,” political scientist Marat Bashirov wrote on his Telegram channel.

Russia and China close to creating their own version of CSTO

Sinologist Nikolai Vavilov pointed out three main results of Patrushev's visit:

• Patrol operations for the creation and development of "corridors" for trade traffic in the potential water area of ​​the Taiwan conflict to protect shipping.
• Deepening coordination between general staffs in the event of a conflict.
• Joint coordination between Russia and China of the global agenda.

According to Nikolai Vavilov, the lightning speed of the meeting suggests a sharp escalation of the situation and corresponds to requests from the Chinese side.

Coordination with Guo Shengkun will contribute to the creation of internal security forces of the SCO and the mechanism for interaction between border services of the competent authorities of the SCO member states.

The question is who will command this analogue of peacekeeping forces, and where its bases are going to be located.