US must stop encouraging Russia-China military collaboration: Milley

By Al-Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 May 2023 22:33
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Although a 'full-fledged' geopolitical cooperation has not yet been completed, Milley admits that 'indicators' exist proving cooperation in the works.

U.S. General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, holds a news conference with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, after a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact group at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium June 15, 2022 (Reuters)

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned on Tuesday that the US has to stop driving military cooperation between Russia and China, during an interview with Foreign Affairs.

“Unlike the Cold War, now, you’ve got three great powers in the world: the United States, China, and Russia,” Milley said, adding: “So what we have to be conscious of, is not to drive China and Russia close together in a military sense.”

He stated that the so-called tripolar world consisting of the three aforementioned powers is more complicated than the bipolar one during the Cold War, commenting that "indicators" show both nations moving closer together which he said needs to be monitored carefully.

Milley admitted however that the US has not recorded a “full-fledged” geopolitical alliance between both Russia and China.

This comes almost a month after he warned the US to tone down its rhetoric towards China, saying that while Washington needs "cold-eyed realism" about the prospect of a potential US-China military clash, America is not on the "brink of war" with China as some officials have warned.

China previously affirmed in February that it will never accept that the US "finger-pointing" target China-Russia relations and calls on Washington to work toward a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis instead of deteriorating the situation.

A growing friendship between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin has helped put the two countries closer together. The ambitions to end what China and Russia regard as America's economic and geopolitical hegemony further strengthened the diplomatic ties.

It is worth noting that despite Western sanctions and blackmail, economic turnover between Russia and China has reached historic highs, with Moscow saying the objective of increasing trade volumes to $200 billion would be met ahead of time.