China and Russia Want to Control the ‘World Island’
Increasing military cooperation helps both sides now, but in the long run Beijing will rule.
China has its eyes on Siberia.
Source: AFP/Getty Images
In the classic 1980s comedy “Ghostbusters,” the heroes have one serious rule for using their powerful anti-ghost weapons, which emit long beams of specter-killing electrons: “Don’t cross the streams.” As the U.S. and its allies watch the continuing rapprochement between Russia and China, they would do well to heed that advice: each rival is dangerous, but as they converge they become a true global threat.
One concrete indication of this growing risk is the escalating boldness of the Russian Navy, which has been confronting U.S. warships around the world. Most recently, and dangerously, was the near-collision of the U.S. cruiser Chancellorsville and a Russian destroyer that made a reckless approach to within 100 feet in the western Pacific, waters that the Chinese are increasingly looking at as their own.