The China Card

Power Vertical Podcast Ep. 37

Is the Sino-Russian relationship a true romance, a shotgun wedding, or a dysfunctional marriage? The answer has profound implications for the United States and its allies.

Until recently, any relationship between Moscow and Beijing was dismissed as a marriage of convenience with limited impact on Western interests.

But a recent Pentagon White Paper warned that the relationship was growing ever closer and that Vladimir Putin could pull a "reverse Nixon," and play the China card against the United States and its allies. And this week, Sino-Russian air patrols in the Pacific led South Korea and Japan to scramble fighter jets and accuse Russia and China of airspace violations.

To consider if it is time to start worrying about this relationship, Brian Whitmore is joined by CEPA editor-in-chief Donald N. Jensen and special guest Stephen Blank, a senior fellow for Russia at the American Foreign Policy Council.

Audio Clips: (1) “20180215 Strategic Competition with China” by the U.S. House Armed Services Committee. (2 ) “Issue Briefing: China and Russia, Deepening Ties?” by the World Economic Forum. (3) “Vladimir Putin congratulated Xi Jinping on his birthday” by the Kremlin.

Photo: By the Kremlin under CC BY 4.0.

WP Post Author

Brian Whitmore

Brian Whitmore is Director of the Russia Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis. Before joining CEPA he was Senior Russia Analyst at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He also worked as a foreign correspondent for The Boston Globe in Moscow and Prague; as a graduate instructor in the Department of Government and International Studies at the University of South Carolina; and as a visiting lecturer in the History Faculty at Mechnikov National University in Odessa, Ukraine and the International Relations Faculty at St. Petersburg State University.

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July 26, 2019