Russia and China Must Counter Any US Attempt at Containment, Shoigu Says

Russian Security Council's Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting dedicated to the situation in the south of the country following an incursion of Ukrainian troops, at a residence outside Moscow, Russia August 12, 2024. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters)
Russian Security Council's Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting dedicated to the situation in the south of the country following an incursion of Ukrainian troops, at a residence outside Moscow, Russia August 12, 2024. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters)
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Russia and China Must Counter Any US Attempt at Containment, Shoigu Says

Russian Security Council's Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting dedicated to the situation in the south of the country following an incursion of Ukrainian troops, at a residence outside Moscow, Russia August 12, 2024. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters)
Russian Security Council's Secretary Sergei Shoigu attends a meeting dedicated to the situation in the south of the country following an incursion of Ukrainian troops, at a residence outside Moscow, Russia August 12, 2024. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Kremlin via Reuters)

The key task for Russia and China is to counter any attempt by the United States to contain their countries, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin told China's foreign minister on Tuesday.

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose steep tariffs on China and other countries, raising fears of a trade war and the United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat.

China's Xi Jinping and Putin in May pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing that the strong relations between Moscow and Beijing were a stabilizing influence on the world.

"I see the most important task as countering the policy of 'dual containment' of Russia and China pursued by the United States and its satellites," Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies.

Xi and Putin believe the post-Cold War era of extraordinary US dominance is crumbling after the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China.



NATO Boss Held Talks with Trump in Florida, Alliance Says

FILE PHOTO: New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attends a press conference, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attends a press conference, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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NATO Boss Held Talks with Trump in Florida, Alliance Says

FILE PHOTO: New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attends a press conference, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attends a press conference, at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 1, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met US President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, a spokesperson for the transatlantic military alliance said on Saturday.
"They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance," the spokesperson, Farah Dakhlallah, said in a brief statement.
On its website, NATO said Rutte and his team also met with Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump's pick to be his national security adviser when he returns to the White House, and other members of the president-elect's national security team.
On Friday, NATO did not respond to requests for comment on Dutch media reports that Rutte - a former prime minister of the Netherlands - had flown to Florida on a Dutch government plane to meet Trump.
Rutte, who took office as NATO chief last month, was widely regarded as one of the best European leaders at forging a good working relationship with Trump during his first, 2017-21 term as US president.