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Fracturing the Axis: Trump’s Strategic Bet Against the China–Russia Partnership

Fracturing the Axis: Trump’s Strategic Bet Against the China–Russia Partnership
French President Emmanuel Macron (2L) and U.S. President Donald Trump (R) listen to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak during a meeting with European leaders in the East Room of the White House on Aug. 18, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Tanvi Ratna
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Commentary

When President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, many dismissed the summit as a spectacle. Yet beneath the optics, something deeper was unfolding: a strategic gambit aimed at weakening the foundations of the China–Russia relationship. If Nixon’s 1972 trip to Beijing cleaved China from the USSR, this administration is attempting a reverse maneuver—quietly driving a wedge between Moscow and Beijing.

Tanvi Ratna
Tanvi Ratna
Author
Tanvi Ratna is the founder of emerging tech policy think tank Policy 4.0. She was formerly on Capitol Hill in the GOP House Foreign Affairs Committee and also worked on campaign strategy for Prime Minister Modi. You can follow her work on X and Substack.