Hal Brands, Columnist

A ‘Reverse Kissinger’? Not While Xi and Putin Are Around

During the Cold War the US split China from Russia by putting pressure on the weaker partner. That’s not going to work against Moscow today.

May 9, 2025 at 4:00 AM UTC

By Hal Brands

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

Cheers, bro!
Photographer: Pavel Byrkin/AFP/Getty Images

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President Donald Trump’s team has achieved one “reverse Kissinger”: By adding the national security adviser’s job to his duties as secretary of state, Marco Rubio has attained, albeit in reverse order, the daunting combination of titles Henry Kissinger bore in the 1970s. President Donald Trump will, alas, find it harder to do a second “reverse Kissinger” — pulling Russia away from China, as Kissinger supposedly pulled China away from the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

Splitting rivals is a time-honored strategic tradition. But as Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s trip to Moscow this week affirms, the Sino-Russian relationship won’t be broken anytime soon.