SHANGHAI, November 17. /TASS/. The conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are controlled within certain limits, which prevents them from escalating into a war between Russia and NATO, as well as between the United States and Iran, Huang Renwei, the Executive Director-General of the Fudan Institute for Belt and Road and Global Governance, has told TASS.

"In fact, the conflict in Ukraine and the war in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas look very dangerous, but they are actually controlled within certain limits. They are not going to become a war between NATO and Russia or a war between Iran and the United States. If a war starts between NATO and Russia or a war between Iran and the US, it could escalate into a nuclear war or a world war," Huang said at the latest session of the Russian-Chinese academic conference organized in Shanghai by the international Valdai Discussion Club and East China Normal University (ECNU).

He pointed out that an important factor in all that was also China, which the US would like to put at ease.

The US, he stressed, does not want a conflict with China at the moment and at the same time thinks Beijing may use the opportunity to push ahead with the Taiwan issue.

"This is something that worries the Americans, but we can't be so reckless as to go to war with Taiwan while there is war in the Middle East and Ukraine. What we need to deal with the most right now is the problems of internal development. As long as Taiwan does not proclaim independence, we will not explicitly use force," Huang explained.

While speaking about Russia, Huang speculated that a window of opportunity might now open for it in the current situation.

"I think that a window of opportunity may now open for Russia to solve the Ukrainian problem. In this case, it remains to be seen how big Russia's goals are. If Russia's goal is confined to three regions plus Crimea, then presumably the West will be able to accept that. If Russia's goals are larger, it is hard to say. It may be necessary to further weaken the Ukrainian army so that it has no chance to resist at all," the scientist said.

The academic conference Crisis and Global Transformation: China and Russia Facing the Challenges of a Changing World Order was held in Shanghai on November 16-17 with leading experts from Russia and China taking part. The Valdai Discussion Club in cooperation with the ECNU has been organizing such conferences on a regular basis since 2010. This year's conference was the first in-person event in the last four years after a forced pause due to anti-Covid pandemic restrictions.