Russia, China Nearing 'Alliance' Despite Fears of Provoking West: Pentagon

Russia and China are headed toward an "alliance" despite concerns about provoking the West as war rages in Ukraine, according to the Pentagon policy chief Colin Kahl.

Kahl, undersecretary of defense policy for President Joe Biden, told reporters on Tuesday that the world "should expect the Russia-China relationship to deepen," according to Defense News. He said that the countries' joint military exercises in September were evidence that their relationship was moving beyond the "superficial."

"They've really been much more willing to signal this thing is edging towards an alliance as opposed to a superficial partnership," Kahl said.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping solidified what they called a "no limits" partnership as Russian troops were amassing on the border of Ukraine in early February, Kahl said that China remains "nervous" about going too far with the partnership.

"[China will not be] doing too much too openly in terms of openly supporting Russia militarily," he said. "Despite it being a relationship without limits, I think China is nervous about that relationship, at least about that too many aspects of that relationship being public."

There have been some public signals of limits to the China-Russia partnership. Despite Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, last week Xi warned Russia against using the weapons, in a joint statement with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to Reuters.

Kahl argued that China was backing Russia to oppose U.S. power, while Russia was seeking an alliance because it "increasingly has nowhere else to go" due to international condemnation of the war in Ukraine. He said Russia was banking on Chinese support "economically, technologically and potentially militarily."

Kahl brushed off concerns that deepening ties between Russia and China could help kick off a new Cold War-style arms race, arguing that the U.S. should instead focus on maintaining the ability to retaliate in the event of an attack.

"This isn't a contest where the kid who dies with the most toys wins," Kahl said. "We shouldn't think about it that if Russia has 2,000 nuclear weapons and China as 1,000 nuclear weapons, the United States needs 3,001."

Xi and Putin are expected to participate in a possibly intense G20 summit in Bali next week.

Three senior administration officials said on Tuesday that Biden would also be attending the summit and would promote messages that challenge China's recent activities in the Taiwan Strait and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

Newsweek has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.