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The convergence of US transatlantic and trans-Pacific alliances
Russian aggression and the Xi-Putin partnership are spurring a counterbalancing response as seen in the gathering of US Atlantic and Pacific allies for the upcoming Nato summit.
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(From left) Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British PM Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian PM Mario Draghi at the G-7 summit in Brussels in March.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Michael J. Green
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About 20 years ago Chinese leader Hu Jintao ordered his government to stop referring to China's "peaceful rise" and instead to use the more reassuring term "peaceful development".
In meetings I staffed for US President George W. Bush at the time, Mr Hu emphasised not China's ambitions but China's internal problems. He understood that the only country that could block China's re-emergence as a major power was the United States and the only way the US could do that was with alliances - and Mr Hu's China wanted to avoid that scenario.
