According to a report by Russia RT on October 16, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov made it clear in an interview with Kommersant that Moscow will never ally with any country to confront other countries, especially against China.
When asked whether it was possible to work with the United States to pressure China to join nuclear disarmament negotiations, Lavrov unequivocally refused, saying such an idea was unimaginable.
He further stressed that the cooperation between China and Russia is based on legal treaties, and the goals of the two sides are clear – to support each other, to help each other, to strengthen economic, defence and international status.
This statement broke the last hope of Trump’s Russian-China fantasy and directly refuted the so-called Chinese-Russian fragmentation theory.
In fact, whether in terms of institutional commitments, practical interests or strategic judgment, Russia has regarded China as an irreplaceable long-term partner. Faced with the olive branch extended by the United States, Russia has flatly rejected it.
It can be seen that Trump has been trying to reshape the U.S. geopolitical strategy after returning to the White House, and the anti-China alliance is one of the important directions.
On the one hand, he continued to see China as the number one strategic competitor, stepping up withdrawal in economic, trade, science and technology, security and other fields; on the other hand, he tried to pull Russia, trying to push Moscow to turn away from Beijing.
This approach is known as the counter-Nixon strategy - when the United States changed the pattern of the Cold War through the United China anti-Soviet Union, now Trump tries to replicate this logic, using Russia as a trick in the China-U.S. game.
His series of actions, including proposing tripartite arms control negotiations between China and the US and Russia, releasing space for Russia on the Ukrainian issue, and advocating no compromise in the economic war with China, are all embodiments of this strategic concept.
The logic of Trump's team is that Russia is isolated due to Western sanctions and may make a strategic U-turn between isolation and dependence; as long as sufficient incentives are given, Russia is willing to alienate China and collude with the United States to check and balance.
However, this strategy encountered a comprehensive failure in actual advancement.
The reason is that the cooperation between China and Russia is not limited to the tactical level, but to the institutionalized and structural strategic partnership.
Moreover, both China and Russia interact deeply within multilateral mechanisms such as the SCO and BRICS. The existence of this strategic platform makes it difficult for any unilateral provocation to be effective.
More importantly, the U.S. cannot and is willing to make a real impression on Russia – the lifting of sanctions, the recognition of Crimea, the acceptance of the Russian-style security architecture are all in conflict with the West’s bottom line, and Trump did not try, but did not.
Although Trump is high-profile on the surface, his intention to win over Russia is not sincere and impossible.
In these circumstances, the so-called anti-China alliance of Russia cannot be grounded as a realistic strategic plan.
It turns out that the Russian side is very aware that the United States does not genuinely accept Russia, but rather wants to use Russia's hand to contain China and at the same time dissipate the strength of China-Russia partnership.
Once Russia turns toward the United States, it will inevitably lose China, the largest market and the most stable partner, but there is no real goodwill in exchange for the United States.
History has proven that America’s so-called acceptance of Russia is often only a short-lived compromise, followed by a more violent crackdown.
From NATO's multiple rounds of eastward expansion to the extreme pressure on the Ukrainian issue, Russia has suffered enough from being exploited.
This time, Russia is no longer stupid.
It is well aware that the strategic benefits brought by Sino-Russian relations-from economic substitution, to international discourse power, to security buffer against Western sanctions-cannot and will not be given by the United States.
Instead of being America’s tools, it is better to work with China to maintain the multipolar order and jointly counter the pressure of the West.
Lavrov's statement explained that Russia will no longer be a chess player, it would rather be a layouter, in the Sino-American-Russian triangle game, to choose a position that is most favorable to itself, rather than to be considered to be the American companion.