Perspectives: Americans Remain Split On Severity Of China-Russia Alliance
AllSides Summary
China and Russia affirmed a deep strategic partnership with "no limits" earlier this month, alarming many voices across the political spectrum.
The alliance between the two superpowers, however, is being assessed differently by different sides of the aisle. Left-rated voices often emphasize China and Russia's conflicting interests. Fareed Zakaria, a columnist at The Washington Post (Lean Left bias), argued that the Biden administration "has handled the Ukraine crisis intelligently and effectively," and that China and Russia are "different from one another" and "lumping them together is a sign that ideology has triumphed over strategy in Washington." The New York Times (Lean Left bias) highlighted how China and Russia "compete and disagree on major issues," such as the extent of their respective nation's sphere of influence and trade relations.
Right-rated voices were more likely to criticize the U.S. for not taking action to weaken the growing relationship between China and Russia. John Bolton, the national security adviser under President Donald Trump, argued that the China-Russia alliance will continue to grow because the two countries’ interests "are mutually complementary for the foreseeable future." He also called America's $700 billion+ defense budget "inadequate" and said Biden needs to take action before the "Russia-China entente grows up to be an axis." One opinion writer for Fox News (Right bias) emphasized the importance of "not sitting on the sidelines," predicting that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) sanctions on Russia will be "bad for America because it will deepen Russia’s dependence on China."
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