Subject: Re: Outside the box?
We will see how it all works out, though. China is on the same landmass as Europe ( yeah, I know
it's considered 2 different continents )

Don’t forget Russia in that scenario.

Russia speaks longingly about what it sees as its historic destiny to control the “Eurasian landmass”. The fact that geographers artificially divide it into two continents doesn’t ring many bells in Moscow. In Russia, “Europe” is more a cultural than geographic term.

Beijing is very much aware of Russia’s designs on its backyard. In fact, China has evidenced its own expansionist interests in Asia from time to time.

The current rapprochement between Russia and China is an arrangement of convenience and is temporary. Don’t expect it to crumble in the short term, but eventually the mutually exclusive national interests of these two countries will reassert themselves.

Too many centuries of bad blood between them. Each poses to the other an existential threat, and in spite of the smiles and raised toasts to arms deals, neither country forgets that.

If Russia or China ever went to was with the United States, either of these countries would have to factor in the possibility of being “stabbed in the back” by the other.

Paradoxically, that is one factor that contributes to keeping the peace.