Speaking with a common voice, the nuclear powerhouses have created a possible new starting point from which they can reconfigure their relationships, enhance global strategic stability and avoid war.

The year 2022 will mark 50 years since US President Richard Nixon traveled to China to meet with Communist Party of China Chairman Mao Zedong and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai – a major step toward restoring relations after decades of estrangement and hostility. A half-century later, the progress they launched has been all but lost, and US President Joe Biden is partly to blame.

China and Russia may be forced to seek a new systemic equilibrium, with the result being two international camps. This could lead to a new cold war and subject other nations to unpredictable security costs.

Russia’s influence once stretched from the edge of Western Europe to the battlefields of Vietnam. Surpassed economically by the West and China, Russian foreign policy sees opportunity in Southeast Asia to restore its global reach.

Relations will not move toward a military alliance because, at the core, is a shared understanding forged through many strategic interactions. The two countries share similar basic judgments about international relations and U.S. influence.

The United States wants to alienate the two countries. Russia will not fully pivot to China, but it hopes to walk a fine line to maximize its interests. With the help of Europe, the U.S. may be able to prevent Russia from undermining the grand strategy of containing China.

The Biden administration seems to be tougher than Trump on Russia, yet Vladimir Putin seems unyielding. Clearly, the Americans must take Russia into account in dealing with China, but the U.S. and China have different mindsets, and things play out differently on each side.

U.S. core national interests are defined by the new administration as safeguarding American strength, promoting power sharing to U.S. advantage and upholding a stable and open international system.

What drove the U.S.-China rapprochement was a common desire to counter the strategic expansionism of the Soviet Union. And the Taiwan issue has since remained a constant irritant in the Sino-American relationship.

Russia has repeatedly rebuffed efforts by the U.S. secretary of state to enlist Russia in a scheme to constrain China. This futile exercise that only reveals Pompeo’s political greed and leads him to ignore reality.