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Opinion | How bad faith is undermining efforts to repair relations between the US, China and Russia
- The US has made moves towards normalising relations with China and Russia, including the online leaders’ summit and a surprise agreement on climate change
- Such efforts are doomed, though, as mutual suspicion leads to viewing each other’s actions as aimed at causing maximum damage to their opponent
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There has been much geopolitical turbulence since Nato’s classification of China as a “full-spectrum systemic rival” last year. Acrimonious US-China relations have only grown more tense. US President Joe Biden’s China policy, once hoped to provide a course correction, looks more Trump-like than not.
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Meanwhile, China’s strength has continued to grow. President Xi Jinping is seeking to enshrine himself alongside other paramount leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. He is cementing his legacy in the annals of the Communist Party through the third “historical resolution”, celebrating the party’s achievements under his leadership.
Xi has also been recasting China’s profile on the global stage. Beijing has ramped up military manoeuvres in the Taiwan Strait to record levels, hinting at a possible military solution and vowing “complete reunification” that could come as soon as 2025.
China appears set to attain superpower status, a title it has rejected in the past. Its military capabilities are growing, with reports of a test of its first nuclear-capable hypersonic missile. China has nearly completed its nuclear triad with significant progress on air-launched and sea-based nuclear technology while simultaneously expanding its missile silos and warhead stockpile, which could hit 1,000 by 2030.
Beijing also faces mounting external pressure as it grows stronger, as can be seen with the Quad security grouping and the Aukus agreement. China has been checking its own alliances to hedge security risks, including upgrading relations with Russia to the “best level in history”.
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Chinese, Russian warships sail through Japan strait for first time
Chinese, Russian warships sail through Japan strait for first time
Moscow and Beijing have coordinated closely on global issues, including deepening defence cooperation in joint military and naval drills. They have exchanged political goodwill, such as when Moscow supported Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is “part of the People’s Republic of China” while Beijing denounced what it called politicisation of Russian gas supplies to Europe.
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