Down Angle Symbol A symbol in the form of an angle pointing downwards. Russia's President Vladimir Putin (center) reviews a military honor guard with Chinese President Xi Jinping (center) during a welcoming ceremony in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 8, 2018. GREG BAKER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
- For decades, the United States was the world's most important military superpower.
- But the United States faces enormous new threats and increasing global conflicts.
- After the Ukraine war there was a rapprochement between Russia and China.
For decades, US military power was unchallenged.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States was the world's only military superpower, with military forces stationed around the world to defend allies and deter aggression.
But as 2023 draws to a close, conflicts are flaring around the world and Russia and China are becoming increasingly aggressive in their shared goal of toppling the United States as the world's greatest power.
Its authoritarian leaders, Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia, are trying to exploit global instability to harm the United States and its allies, analysts say, and are moving closer to forming a military alliance that poses the greatest threat the United States has ever faced were faced for decades.
“It is clear that the two countries see each other as military partners and that this partnership is becoming deeper and more sophisticated, even if it is not a formal alliance in the Western sense,” Atlas Group CEO Jonathan Ward told Business Insider.
Xi and Putin are moving closer to a massive military alliance
The rivalry between the US and the Russian-Chinese partnership is playing out in conflicts around the world.
China has provided crucial economic and diplomatic support to Russia in its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while the United States has provided billions in aid to Kiev.
In the Middle East, Russia and China have sided with Iran and criticized Israel's attacks on Gaza to destroy the Tehran-backed terror group Hamas. The US, meanwhile, has provided Israel with military aid and diplomatic support.
Experts say China will likely watch the outcome of the Ukraine war closely for signs of how the world will react if it moves forward with its plans to take control of Taiwan.
And the closer China and Russia get, the more they coordinate their military resources.
“The 'Comprehensive Strategic Coordination Partnership for a New Era' between Russia and China has always been about military power,” Ward said.
In the past two years, Russia and China have launched joint naval exercises in the Sea of Japan, Russia has handed China submarine technology that could give it an advantage in a war with U.S. allies in the Pacific, and leaders have Committed to cooperating on the development of high-tech weapons, Putin said in November.
Russia has also sold Chinese Su-25 jets, MI-17 helicopters and S-400 air defense systems.
Although the leaders have not signed a formal military alliance, such moves should be a matter of great concern for the United States and its allies, writes Chels Michta in a recent article for the Center for European Policy Analysis.
“A comprehensive alliance between China and Russia would pose a threat to the United States the likes of which it has never faced since the end of the Cold War,” Michta writes.
The US military is being asked to deal with the new threat
During the Cold War, the Pentagon planned to be able to fight one major war and two smaller wars simultaneously. But as threats changed, it changed its strategy to be able to wage a major war and deter other attacks.
The Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States said in October that the U.S. now faces “fundamentally different” threats [to] “Everything experienced in the past, even in the darkest days of the Cold War,” due to the rise of China and Russia.
She called on the Pentagon to revise its plans to prepare for the possibility of a simultaneous war with China and Russia.
“The Russia-China axis poses a tremendous threat to the United States as we have to worry about security in both Europe and Asia as well as the Middle East, with the risk that we will be overwhelmed as Beijing and Moscow join forces the pursuit will align their respective regional ambitions,” Ward said.
Some experts remain skeptical about the stability of a Russian-Chinese alliance, citing long-standing tensions between the powers and China's desire to maintain strong ties with lucrative Western markets.
But experts say the U.S. needs to prepare for the possibility of a military pact between the authoritarian leaders.
The United States' global alliances are vital to its ability to counter the threat of rival superpowers. In Europe in particular, they urgently need to expand their military capacities, said Ward.
“The United States can still deal with both threats, but this will require a significant increase in burden sharing, particularly among European allies who have now seen the true consequences of geopolitical 'coordination' between Russia and China since the invasion of Ukraine,” Ward said.
NOW WATCH: Popular Videos from Insider Inc.
Is loading…