Russia’s president Vladimir Putin traveled last week to Beijing, where he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to reaffirm what they call a “no-limits” partnership between the two countries.
Bob Maginnis, senior fellow for national security at the Family Research Council, says he has warned for years the U.S. has entered another “cold war” with both Russia and China, who are both adversaries if not enemies of the United States and its allies.
“I think that it becomes clearer every day,” he says, “that there's not much that we are going to collaborate and cooperate with either one of them.”
Russia’s war with Ukraine, which hit the two-year mark in February, has put Putin in a tense face-off with NATO after it has expanded its membership and is building up military forces in the region. The Russia-NATO stand-off was symbolized recently when Belarus, Russia's ally, conducted military drills with simulated nuclear weapons. Belarus shares a border with Ukraine and NATO members Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania.
At the same time Putin and Russia want to annex and control border regions in Ukraine, using tanks and troops, Xi and the Chinese Communist Party want to expand China’s power around the globe using handshakes and diplomacy where there is an opportunity to do so.
China’s famous “One Belt, One Road” initiative, adapted a decade ago, is an international strategy to expand China’s economic influence around the globe. China’s biggest obstacle around the world is its top trading partner, the United States, and the world's reserve currency, the U.S. dollar.
Last week, Bloomberg reported China has sold a record amount of U.S. Treasury bonds - $54.3 billion – during the first quarter of the new year. It is also buying up more gold.
According to Maginnis, he suspects Putin needs Xi and China to supply more weapons for the Ukraine war. Xi is likely eyeing Russia’s cheap energy.
“And I think they're mutually beneficial in their cooperation,” he says.
