New CFR Report Outlines Strategies to Counter China-Russia Influence

New CFR Report Outlines Strategies to Counter China-Russia Influence

December 12, 2024 9:45 am (EST)

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In a partnership bordering on alliance, “Russia and China have been clear about the world they seek,” asserts a new Council Special Report, No Limits? The China-Russia Relationship and U.S. Foreign Policy. The two countries want to “replace the United States as the primary global actor” and “erode U.S. power and influence in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Global South.”  

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China and Russia seek “to weaken the U.S. alliance system, compromise U.S. extended nuclear deterrence, shift regional military balances in their favor, and undermine international confidence in U.S. credibility, reliability, and staying power,” says the report. Additionally, they strive to ensure that U.S. democratic values do not diminish their hold on domestic power.  

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The report is coauthored by Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy Robert Blackwill and Center for a New American Security CEO Richard Fontaine.  

“The growing relationship between China and Russia poses a significant challenge to U.S. interests in Europe, Asia, and beyond,” said CFR President Michael Froman. “This important report will help policymakers on both sides of the aisle prepare and respond to China and Russia’s attempts to diminish U.S. power and influence around the globe.”   

Blackwill and Fontaine highlight fourteen policy prescriptions that should define the United States’ top priorities in managing Chinese and Russian influence:  

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  • leverage allies such as NATO, the five Pacific allies, and the G7, and strengthen connection to and among new partners  

  • increase defense spending, investment in domestic innovation, foreign aid, and other sources of U.S. strength  

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  • exploit temporal asymmetries between Russia and Chinese actions  

  • adopt measures to offset the Axis of Upheaval  

  • focus on places and issues that might disproportionately damage U.S. national interests and substantially benefit China or Russia  

  • defend key principles and institutions in regions that matter most, such as East Asia and Europe  

  • redeploy U.S. military forces to the Indo-Pacific to deter China from using force  

  • establish a dynamic U.S. trade policy toward Asia  

  • prepare for opportunistic aggression by Beijing or Moscow  

  • contain Russian expansion through military collaboration with NATO allies and, as pertinent, sanctions on China  

  • improve and better fund U.S. public diplomacy and messaging  

  • cultivate the “global swing states”  

  • engage in bilateral diplomacy with Beijing and Moscow  

  • pursue domestic political unity and international leadership  

Ensuring that Europe and Asia remain free from hostile domination has long been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. The authors conclude that “the United States and its allies have everything they need to succeed.” With economic, military, and diplomatic strength on their side, “U.S. leaders should add to those advantages a clarity of purpose, resolve, and confidence in their system and in the American future.”  

To read No Limits? The China-Russia Relationship and U.S. Foreign Policy, visit www.cfr.org/no-limits.   

To interview the authors, please contact [email protected].

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