The Kremlin is on a roll. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has replaced the United States in Syria, continues to intervene in Eastern Ukraine, and recently hosted an African summit in Sochi. Appearances, however, can be deceptive. True, Russia retains a vast nuclear arsenal, equal in size to that of the US, and it used force effectively against Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014; provided military assistance to save Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria; and has used cyber means to disrupt US and other elections. But Russia can only be an international spoiler. Behind the adventurism, it is a country in decline.

The duo can team up against the U.S. power advantage, but they need to know their limitations.

Since the late 1990s, China and Russia coordinated their diplomatic efforts to serve mutual interests and simultaneously oppose US global hegemony. A ‘Eurasian’ worldview began to concretize after the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. In response to NATO and US unilateralism, China and Russia became more concerned with protecting concepts of sovereignty and territorial integrity within the rules-based international order.

China, Russia, and the United States are in an interlocking trilateral dispute over whether to extend bilateral strategic nuclear arms control treaties between Moscow and Washington to China as well.

Just as U.S.-China competition will be a longstanding feature in international relations over the coming decade(s), a China-Russia axis to counter the United States will remain a core feature of global geopolitics.

While the United States bickers with allies in Europe and along its southern border, Russia and China agree on new economic and political partnerships which oppose global US hegemony.

Sino-Russian relations today are closer than ever before, in the face of increased US pressure on both countries, particularly to contain China. While the two powers have stopped short of a formal military alliance, their cooperation seems set to strengthen despite US efforts.

Under Trump the US has moved towards warmer relations with Russia to counterbalance China’s rise. But existing legislative constraints—along with ongoing points of US-Russian enmity over Ukraine, election interference, and nuclear issues — make short-term détente unlikely.

Secretary of state calls for vigilance against aggressive claims for region’s resources.

China should participate in official discussions regarding its nuclear employment and targeting doctrines and, like Russia and the United States, make public the number of China’s nuclear warheads and delivery systems.