The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War

by Jim Sciutto

early November 2022, German chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to Beijing to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Russia’s nuclear threat in Ukraine was a central topic of their meetings. And following their talks, Scholz told reporters, “President Xi and I agree: nuclear threats are irresponsible and incendiary. By using nuclear weapons, Russia would be crossing a line that the community of states has drawn together.”[13] China’s official readout of their meeting contained a similar warning using similar language. China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported the two leaders had agreed to “oppose the use of or the threat to use nuclear weapons, advocate that nuclear weapons cannot be used, and that nuclear wars must not be fought, and prevent a nuclear crisis in Eurasia.”[14] Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was even more forthright in his public criticism of Russia and its nuclear threats. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Uzbekistan that September, during a bilateral meeting with Putin, Modi seemed to chide the Russian leader, saying, “Today’s era is not of war” and encouraging him to “move onto a path of peace.”