JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin and Xi’s Unholy Alliance; Why the West Won’t Be Able to Drive a Wedge Between Russia and China” – Foreign Affairs: Alexander Gabuev
“… [T]ightening … alignment between Russia and China is one of the most important geopolitical outcomes of Putin’s war against Ukraine. … Xi and Putin drive much of this reorientation, but it is also the byproduct of the deepening schism between the West and both countries. … [T]he West should be prepared for an extended period of simultaneous confrontation with two immense nuclear-armed powers. … Western policymakers should abandon the idea that they can drive a wedge between Beijing and Moscow. … [T]he Sino-Russian relationship is not without its strains, and existing tensions may be exacerbated as China grows more confident and is tempted to start bossing around the Russians in a more heavy-handed way …. For now, however, Beijing and Moscow have demonstrated a remarkable ability to manage their differences. If the China-Russia tandem is here to stay, Western leaders must build a [related] long-term strategy …. [including] the right balance between deterrence and reassurance with Moscow and Beijing to avoid dangerous escalatory situations … aris[ing] from accidents, misperceptions, and miscommunication. Western governments should consider the second-order effects of … coercive economic measures … and how retaliatory countermeasures further erode the fabric of globalization. … [W]hile they should not tolerate Russian and Chinese disinformation and attempts to subvert the functioning of international institutions, Western countries should seek to make some of these institutions … functional again ….”