US bid to divide China, Russia ‘doomed to fail’, Beijing says after Rubio ‘peel off’ note

US attempts to sow discord between China and Russia were “doomed to fail”, Beijing said on Thursday, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to outline Washington’s strategy to dilute ties between the two nuclear-powered neighbours.

Speaking to conservative US outlet Breitbart News on Tuesday, Rubio said a Russia that was a “permanent junior partner” to China would pose a problem for the United States, with “two nuclear powers aligned against” it.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever be successful completely at peeling them off … a relationship with the Chinese,” Rubio said, while calling Russians “increasingly dependent on the Chinese”.

Rubio was responding to a question on whether US President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine were similar to then president Richard Nixon’s famous trip to China in 1972 – aimed at undermining Cold War adversary the Soviet Union and creating distance between Moscow and Beijing.

However, it would not be good for China and Russia to be at loggerheads either, the top US diplomat said.

“I also don’t think having China and Russia at each other’s neck is good for global stability because they’re both nuclear powers,” Rubio said. “But I do think we’re in a situation now where the Russians have become increasingly dependent on the Chinese and that’s not a good outcome either if you think about it.”