Despite differences of opinion on a number of issues, the general dissatisfaction with the policy dictated by the United States allows the most powerful adversary in the history of Washington to be formed in the form of a tandem of Russia and China.
Political experts Graham Ellison and Dmitry Symes write about this in an article for The Wall Street Journal.
The authors noted that the US has long talked about the threat of the formation of such a union. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as adviser to the president of the United States on national security during Jimmy Carter, told about this even more, but few people heard him, and the one who heard it simply did not take it seriously.
Even James Mattis, while still the head of the Pentagon, insisted that such a union was impossible due to “natural causes.” However, the authors emphasize that none of the politicians took into account the old principle that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
US pressure on Russia was an obvious fact long ago, the article says. The interests of the two powers collided in many regions of the planet. But in the case of China, everything was not so obvious, and although the standoff in the South China Sea did not stop, the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump was the main problem. But, while Washington indulged in the illusion of power, both Moscow and Beijing, with all sorts of disagreements, realized that they had a common enemy.
The head of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, who visited Moscow, has already managed to call Russian leader Vladimir Putin “the closest friend,” the authors of the material emphasize. Moreover, Russian-Chinese relations go beyond simple trade relations. The article notes that the biggest mistake of American experts is their skepticism about military cooperation between the two countries: Moscow supplies advanced technologies to the PRC, countries exchange intelligence information and even conduct joint development of rocket engines.
Yes, the Russian elites, in a particular aspect, have not yet had time to reorient themselves on China, the authors continue, but the prospects for rapprochement with the West are becoming increasingly dubious. So, many qualified Russians are beginning to conquer the East.
The article notes that from the point of view of Washington, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger did the best of all in their time, establishing relations with China, seizing the initiative from Moscow. But with the efforts of the new American administration, the situation has radically changed, and the “Russian-Chinese Entente” may become a serious problem for the USA for many years.