Once ostracized, Putin re-emerges on diplomatic center stage

Once ostracized, Putin re-emerges on diplomatic center stage. August. 19, 2016 07:16. by 황인찬기자 hic@donga.com. Two years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin was ostracized in the diplomatic arena. Faced with strong criticisms following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in March 2014, Putin left the G20 summit in Australia in November as if he had been running away.

Just two years later, however, the Russian president has become a major player. The Chinese government stressed that Putin will be the guest of honor at the G20 summit to be held in Hangzhou, China on September 4-5.

China is having diplomatic friction with Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea, with Japan in the East China Sea, with South Korea and the United States over the planned deployment of the high altitude area defense system in South Korea. China desperately needs Russia as its diplomatic ally. Russia also needs China’s capital and market to overcome the West’s economic sanctions against Russia since its invasion of Crimea. The Beijing-Moscow ties, which have become closer while checking the U.S. since Xi Jinping became Chinese president in 2012, will likely get stronger.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported Sunday on the ironical situation, in which the Russian president will visit China to check the U.S. nearly half a century after U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972 to check an expansionist Soviet Union

Analysts say that Putin’s rise is attributable to Washington’s foreign policy bungling. As the U.S. needed Moscow’s help with the war against the Sunni jihadist group Islamic State and Iran’s implementation of its nuclear deal with the U.S., Washington failed to check Moscow properly. According to Fox News on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov 20 times in the next 12 months after Russia’s invasion of Crimea and visited Moscow twice to meet with Vladimir Putin. “Obama could not afford to isolate Putin,” the article said. A divided Europe over refugees and terrorism and the U.S. presidential election also create a favorable condition for Putin to grow power.

In addition, the U.S. Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump’s isolationism has dented allies’ trust in the U.S. and created more room for Putin. According to the result of a poll by the U.S. Pew Research Center released in June, Trump was viewed more negatively than Putin in 13 of 15 countries surveyed.

“Putin is flying high, overcoming a shrinking economy and widespread international opprobrium,” Fox News said. “He has manipulated President Obama into giving him an important seat at the table. He doesn’t need Trump.”