Global Times: Western sanctions will create a new Russia heading east

Wang Wen, a researcher and executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University in China, wrote an article in the Chinese newspaper “Global Times” in which he said: I spent half an hour walking from the first floor to the fifth floor of the Galleria Mall, the largest shopping mall in the heart of the city.

Saint Petersburg, Russia, in search of the number of European and American brands that have left the Russian market.

He added: The vast majority of brands still exist.

An Apple Store employee told me their store had been open since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began with only a symbolic day of closure.

What’s even more interesting is that while McDonald’s is closed on the fifth floor of the mall, Kentucky Fried Chicken is open, and its business is getting better with long queues all day long.

The writer continued: The mall was crowded with people.

The nearby Neva Street was filled with tourists from all over the world, and many of the tourist attractions were crowded.

It is clear that the daily life of Russians hasn’t been greatly affected by Western sanctions.

However, the writer added: Of course, the sanctions had some effects on the middle and high income groups.

It became more difficult for them to travel to Europe, and it became more difficult to buy some European and American brands, high-tech products and spare parts.

Visa and MasterCard have also halted their operations in Russia.

However, he added, Russia quickly found alternatives.

For example, while the children’s toy brand LEGO is rarely seen in Russia, BELA, a toy brand from China, quickly replaced the LEGO market.

The most impressive thing, said the Chinese researcher, at the Eastern Economic Forum held in Vladivostok in early September, was to see a flourishing scenes in Russia.

Guests from 68 countries participated in the Eastern Economic Forum.

I didn’t see any representatives from the United States, but there were a few scholars and representatives from Japan, Norway, and so forth.

He continued: Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an important speech at the forum.

The main thrust of his speech was that the dominance of the United States in world politics was waning, and it was impossible for any country to isolate Russia.

Putin’s speech drew several rounds of applause from the audience.

Perhaps what everyone was trying to convey was that the rest of the world would go on without the United States.

Gone are the days when Washington told the world to do whatever it wanted.

Especially when it comes to Far East integration, a world without the United States might take shape.

The largest industrial belt in the world is formed in the Far East.

An international pattern of cross-border division of labor has been built between China, Japan, South Korea, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the region’s total exports have already exceeded those of the European Union and North America combined.

The writer believes that the next two decades will witness the largest transfer of wealth in history, from both sides of the Atlantic to the Far East, where thousands of wealth and credit management companies are created.

The Far East has become an innovation center for the smart revolution.

Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo are among the world’s high-tech cities, and technologies such as driverless transportation, the urban network of things, sensor networks, cashless payments, energy-saving technologies, battery energy storage, urban monitoring, and telemedicine are all spreading.

Faster in the Far East countries than in Europe, the United States and other countries.

The writer concluded by saying that the attraction of technological innovation has attracted an increasing number of talented people to the Far East.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the number of Americans living abroad for work or permanent residence has skyrocketed, reaching 4 million in 1999 and 10 million in 2019.

The Far East has become the preferred destination for Americans going abroad.

China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore all have national talent programs to attract entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators to the Far East for stable and long-term residence.

The Chinese researcher concluded by saying that Russia is precisely the most exemplary country that is accelerating its tendency towards the Far East.

From this point of view, Western sanctions won’t kill Russia, but rather create a new Russia, that will abandon its illusions about the West and gradually assimilate into the East, finding a new self by enjoying the gains of the rise of the East.