Russian Revival

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June 9, 2022

The U.S, China, and Revival of Russia:

Russian Revival: The US and China are very important actors in shaping world politics but the re-emergence of Russia after its attack on Ukraine makes it clear to the powers of the world that the Russian Federation is still an important actor in the international arena. Before the onset of the Russia-Ukraine issue, the prime focus of the US was China but now the situation is a bit different.

Now for the US, not only China but also Russia matters a lot that needs to be dealt with as China is being dealt with. Russian Revival is a threat to the United States.

Global hegemony:

US perceives China as a revisionist power bearing great potential to challenge the hegemony of the US. But US wants to remain a global hegemony as it has been since the end of World War II. In the past, the US has been leading in economics, military, and all other aspects, but after facing a century of humiliation, China made awe-inspiring progress and exhibited miraculous growth.

Under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, China followed the policy of “hide our capacities and bide our time”, and under Xi Jinping, China made an appearance as a country that is no weaker state anymore and that has the power to shape the situation. They worked hard to make their economy stable and once they got stability, they started militarisation.

Currently, China is the leading economy in the world and US falls second but in terms of military US is still on the top.

Re-emergence of Russian threat/revival:

It is being thought that US and China might end up in the Thucydides trap because the US will never want to see its hegemony being challenged by China and will never let China be a stronger power than itself, while on the contrary, China is keen on achieving the superpower status.

Since the US under the Obama administration was okay with the peaceful rise of China but as the Trump administration came, the US approach to China changed and their focus became the containment of China. This situation directs that China is challenging the global hegemony of the US and that’s the reason the US is focused on containing China.

In the current scenario when Russia attacked Ukraine, this re-emergence of Russia is also a threat to the US. It is quite interesting that the US policies that were only aimed at containing China are now divided between Russia and China.

Conclusion:

This is the time for China to do the same as it did when the US was engaged in the War on Terror. If China makes itself a competent and independent state in terms of advanced technologies, it will be a great opportunity for China to make itself a global hegemonic power as it is going to be difficult for the US to deal with both Russia and China simultaneously.

It is said that in who’s bucket the Russian Federation fall will become a hegemon. Moreover, it is apparent that Russia and China have joined hands in the present situation and are having cordial relations with each other. However, it is a different debate whether this Sino-Russia bond will last forever or not.

We must wait and see how the US works to tackle both Russia and China at the same time, and what policies does US adopt to deal with both these powers which are posing a serious threat to the hegemony of the US. Moreover, Russia Ukraine War is also a sign of Russian revival if it continues.

This Article is written by Meeqat Naeem Abbasi, who is studying International Relations at the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad.