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Vladimir Putin is successfully ‘playing the China card’ against the US, analysts say
- The chances of Washington driving a wedge between Beijing and Moscow are significantly diminished by how different conditions are than when Nixon did it in 1972
- Putin and Xi Jinping are ‘working together now to really push back and try to change the order that they view doesn’t advantage either of them’
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Mark Magnierin New York
Moscow was shocked when US president Richard Nixon drove a wedge between the Soviet Union and China 50 years ago but now Russia is returning the favour, analysts said on Wednesday as they assessed the US-China-Russia dynamic.
Since 2014, Vladimir Putin’s Russia has effectively exploited Beijing’s rising disenchantment and frustration with the United States, amplified by the confrontational policies of Donald Trump’s administration.
“Putin played the China card on us,” said Evan Medeiros, Asia studies chairman at Georgetown University. “And that’s been very, very successful. So … the challenges of us trying to divide them are substantial.”
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The ties between Russia and China were strengthened when President Xi Jinping tacitly supported Moscow’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, analysts said, support that could be reciprocated should Beijing try to take Taiwan by force.
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“It contributes to Putin’s sense of confidence and helps explain why Putin judges that this is his time to push his maximalist demands,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a fellow at the Centre for a New American Security.
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