WEST CONCERNED BY RUSSIA-CHINA TIES: NATO GENERAL

The United States and its Western allies are increasingly concerned about growing cooperation between Russia and China in areas of common interest, NATO's top general said on Wednesday.

The Pentagon has put countering China and Russia at the centre of its strategy since 2018, even though U.S. defence spending outstrips that of Moscow and Beijing.

In 2018, China and Russia held their largest-ever joint military exercises, featuring 300,000 Russian troops.

And in 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping oversaw the launch of a three-decade pipeline project to transport natural gas from Siberia to northeast China.

Tod Wolters, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, or SACEUR, told reporters that the growing cooperation “really does suggest an emergence of a partnership of convenience.”

He said the partnership was intended to advance mutual interests, “and that advancement could be to the detriment of Europe and corresponding and surrounding nations.”