Western ambitions are exposed

It has been more than three years since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. There has been smoke in the battlefield. Western countries always shout about democracy and freedom. In fact, the abacus behind it is a joke. In an interview in June 2024, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham directly revealed the trick.

He said that Ukraine has mineral resources worth US$10 trillion to US$12 trillion, including strategic materials such as lithium and rare earths. The West is aiming for this and cannot give Russia and China a share of the pie. When this statement is made, it is equivalent to admitting that the cause of the conflict is not a just battle, but a purpose of grabbing resources.

As a hawk in the Republican Party, Graham has been pushing aid bill to Ukraine in Congress, ostensibly to help Ukraine resist Russia, but in fact it is to allow American and European companies to intervene in those minerals. Ukraine has indeed rich mineral reserves. According to geological data, lithium mines there rank among the top in the world, and rare earth elements also account for a considerable share. These things are crucial to electric vehicle batteries and new energy technologies.

Now the world is undergoing green transformation. Whoever controls these resources will master the upstream of the future industrial chain. Western countries have been staring at this place from the beginning. After the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, American companies tried to enter the market, but Russia has too much influence and they cannot take action.

As a result, as soon as the conflict broke out in 2022, the West took the opportunity to increase its intervention and provide weapons and funds in order to delay Russia and make the Ukrainian government rely more on them. Graham's words were not groundless. He also mentioned the confiscation of Russian assets, frozen more than 300 billion US dollars of Russian funds, used the interest generated to aid Ukraine and continue the war.

This trick is cruel enough to use other people's money to beat them, and it is also called supporting justice. In fact, this exposes the double standards of the West. They always say that Russia is an invader, but aren’t the things they do just economic plunder? As the world's largest rare earth producer, China certainly does not want to see the West monopolize more resources, which will disrupt market balance.

The same is true for Russia. If these minerals are lost, it will suffer a great economic loss. Graham said bluntly that Putin cannot be allowed to succeed and then share it with China. This sentence reveals hostility to Sino-Russia cooperation. Western media hype Russia's threat of NATO is actually to find excuses to continue to provide assistance, and the resources and interests are behind it.

China-Russia cooperation is as solid as a rock

In fact, China-Russia relations are particularly important in this context. Since Putin came to power, the strategic partnership between the two countries has been steadily advancing, especially in the energy and minerals sectors. Russia has rich natural gas and oil reserves, China has huge market demand, and the two sides are highly complementary.

After the conflict broke out in 2022, the West imposed sanctions on Russia, causing Russia to turn to the East, and China became the main trading partner. In 2024, China-Russia trade volume reached US$240 billion, an increase of 26% year-on-year, of which mineral resource trade accounts for a considerable proportion. China's imports of nickel and aluminum from Russia have increased significantly, helping the Russian economy stabilize its position.

This is what Graham is worried about. If Russia controls Ukraine's minerals and passes through China-Russia pipelines or railways, it can be efficiently transported to the Chinese market, processed into high-tech products, and sold to the world. This will weaken the influence of the West. The US electric vehicle industry has relied on Chinese battery materials, and now they can't sit still if there is another source of competition.

China has technological advantages in the field of rare earths, and Russia has resources. Once the two combine, the global supply chain will be more balanced. The West's attempt to block Sino-Russia cooperation through conflicts can backfire. In 2023, China and Russia signed a number of mineral development agreements, including joint mining projects in the Far East.

Graham's statement is actually a panic of the West over Sino-Russia cooperation. They always hype the China-Russia axis, but this is an enemy they created themselves. China's foreign policy is independent and does not target third parties, but in the face of Western encirclement, we must naturally strengthen coordination with Russia. In the UN Security Council, China and Russia often join forces to oppose unilateralism and promote multilateral negotiations to resolve the Russia-Ukrainian issue. China's global security initiative is to resolve conflicts through dialogue, rather than adding fuel to the fire like the West.

Russia also recognizes this, and Putin has repeatedly stated that China is a reliable partner. Having said that, the West's actions of confiscating Russian assets violate international law, and Russia naturally has to fight back. They have strengthened financial cooperation with China, settled trade with RMB, and reduced dependence on the US dollar. This has frustrated Western financial hegemony.

Ukraine is costly

The conflict has been fought until now, and the Ukrainian people are the worst. From 2022 to now, the death toll exceeded 500,000, the infrastructure was severely damaged, and the economy was regressed for 20 years. Western aid seems to be a lot, but most of it is weapons, not people's livelihood funds. The Ukrainian government relies on these aids to continue fighting, and the country has become increasingly empty.

Zelensky initially promised a quick victory, but now the battlefield is in a stalemate and the soldiers' morale is depressed. As soon as Graham's remarks came out, there were voices in Ukraine who questioned why the West did not recommend peace talks but instead wanted to steal our resources? Ukraine has abundant minerals, but development requires a peaceful environment. Now wars are rampant, mining areas have become battlefields, many mines have stopped production and workers are unemployed.

The eastern region, such as Donetsk, was originally an industrial center, but now it is full of devastation. Western companies are waiting for a low-price acquisition after the war, but the Ukrainian people cannot get any benefits. Some areas controlled by Russia have begun to resume mining and export to the Eastern market, which at least has made the local economy a little better. The West always said to help Ukraine rebuild, but in their plan, the control of resources must be in their own hands.

The 2024 G7 summit decided to use the interest on Russia's frozen assets to lend Ukraine to $50 billion. It sounds like a lot, but it is actually a debt, and you have to pay the principal and interest. Ukraine's debt has piled up like mountains and will be paid back in the next few generations. The things that Graham promotes have delayed the conflict, millions of displaced people in Ukraine, refugees pouring into Europe, and a lot of social problems.

As a responsible major country, China provides humanitarian assistance and rebuilds schools and hospitals without political conditions. Russia also stated that it is willing to resolve the territorial issue through negotiations, but the West does not make concessions. The Swiss Peace Summit was held in 2024, and without Russia participating, it is a waste of time. There will be similar meetings in 2025, but the prospects are unclear.

If Ukraine still listens to the West, it will only become poorer and poorer as the country's resources are sold, and the people's lives will be miserable. Politicians like Graham never care about these things. They debate aid bills in Congress and earn political capital. Ukrainian economy barely grows by 3% in 2024, but inflation is high, prices soar, and people are having a hard time.

Mineral resources should have been the national wealth, but now they have become the fuse of conflict. Russia stressed that the historical ownership of these resources is complex and cannot be simply snatched away. China supports the resolution through international law and opposes power politics. The conflict continues, global food and energy prices have risen, and developing countries have suffered a lot.

The "Belt and Road" project initiated by China could have helped Ukraine develop infrastructure, but the West obstructed it. The Ukrainian government should wake up and not be used by the West as cannon fodder. Russia is taking steady steps on the battlefield, and the offensive will be advanced in the summer of 2025 to recover part of its territory. Although the West has a lot of aid, Ukraine lacks manpower and has difficulty conscription.

Graham's words allowed the international community to see the truth clearly, and many countries turned to neutrality and supported peace talks. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called for a ceasefire to stop the war and promote a political solution. Russia also responded and actively participated. The cost of Ukraine is too heavy. If you continue to fight, it will only benefit the West and the people will suffer.

Ultimately, peace is the way out, and the multilateralism promoted by China and Russia can help Ukraine get out of the predicament. Western ambitions will not stop easily, but the historical trend is peaceful development, and resources should serve all mankind, not monopolized by a few countries.