Despite disagreements on many issues, Moscow and Washington could find common ground over Beijing, especially as Russia risks becoming an “appendage of China,” an ex-advisor of former US president Donald Trump has claimed.
Speaking to RTVI, a TV channel based in both Moscow and New York, John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security advisor, suggested China could serve as a point of convergence in US-Russian relations.
“I would like Russia to realize there are issues where we can find common ground, such as the China issue,” he explained. “Russia faces the risk of becoming an appendage of China, which I have mentioned many times in talks, including with Russian partners.”
In recent years, Russia and China have become significantly closer and have worked together extensively in different fields, including economically and militarily. Last week, at the ‘Russia Calling!’ VTB Capital Investment Forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested cooperation between Beijing and Moscow may increase even further and could extend into different parts of the globe.
“We have many fields of cooperation with China. One of them concerns our work in third countries. It is well underway, but it may be expanded further. Why? Because we share roughly the same approaches and principles,” Putin noted.
On the same day, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin suggested China and Russia work together to fight against “political and economic pressure” employed by Western nations.
However, despite the growing cooperation between the two, some people like Bolton believe Russia is simply a junior partner of China and will soon risk becoming a much less important part of the bilateral relationship. This has also been stated by other foreign politicians, such as French President Emmanual Macron, who famously called Putin a “child of Saint Petersburg” who would prefer a partnership with Europe rather than China.