US urged to bolster Global South ties to counter China-Russia partnership

The US must strengthen relations with the Global South and increase its military presence in the Indo-Pacific to counter the growing China-Russia partnership, two authors said at a Washington think tank on Wednesday.

A panel hosted by Council on Foreign Relations came after the think tank released a report with policy recommendations to address the increasing cooperation between Moscow and Beijing, which it said posed the greatest threat to US national interests since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

It also came two weeks before the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, whose foreign policy goals are known to be unconventional.

Trump’s tariff threats have unnerved many US allies and trading partners. In December, he said he would impose 100 per cent tariff on Brics nations if they created their own currency.

Moscow and Beijing have used the alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as a platform to promote an alternative vision of the global order. In their annual summit in Russia in October, Moscow proposed creating a cross-border payment system with the use of the member nations’ own currencies to bypass US dollar.

Speaking on the panel, Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer of the Centre for a New American Security and an author of the report, said it was essential for Washington to build up relations with the “global swing states” and provide a more “affirmative and assertive” trade policy, as China and Russia are cementing their relations with the Global South.