By trying to talk tough on China, Biden’s White House is pushing Beijing into an alliance with Moscow, top Russian senator claims

US diplomats are struggling to contain and control an “increasingly powerful” China, one of Moscow’s top politicians has said, warning that Washington’s oppositional stance will fall flat with the world’s most populous country.

Alexey Pushkov, an influential member of the Russian Senate and former head of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, slammed the recent approach championed by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a tweet on Sunday.

According to Pushkov, Washington’s top envoy “will not scare Beijing by stating his intention to address relations with China ‘from a position of strength,’ but will only make it more wary and push it towards an alliance with Moscow.”

“At the same time, the US does not have the resources to deal with an increasingly powerful China,” Pushkov claimed. “The new team in Washington is thinking in the old framework of the 20th century.”

Moscow and Beijing have been pursuing closer partnerships in recent months, with both expressing concern over potential US sanctions. At a summit with his Chinese counterparts last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that “you cannot do global business by means of ultimatums and sanctions, or force other countries to behave as expected of them.”

Russians have a proverb, he added, which says “you can't force your love on another person. Unfortunately, the United States has not learned this and is acting from the opposite position.”

“I’m convinced that Russia and China will do their best to ensure their safety and protection against the threats coming from the states that are unfriendly towards our respective countries,” Moscow’s top diplomat said.

“We noted the destructive nature of US intentions, relying on the military-political alliances of the Cold War era and creating new closed alliances in the same spirit,” Lavrov added.

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