Disturbing implications

The world has still not settled down to a new strategic balance that reflects the end of the Cold War. For both Russia and China, there are reasons why now is a good time to cement a closer relationship, and some of them have disturbing implications.

China's relations with the U.S. are again deteriorating as a result of disputes over human rights, Hong Kong and trade. As far as Russia is concerned, a closer relationship with China provides a reassuring counter to its perceived isolation from world affairs. This has been aggravated by the inexorable process of enlarging NATO and the European Union to include former Soviet satellites, but not Russia itself.

It is in the West's interest to prevent the two countries from drifting together into isolation. Without proper leadership from the U.S. there is more of a risk of that happening, particularly since the Clinton administration has apparently failed to deliver the more coherent China policy promised in its second term.

-- The Financial Times, London