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Expert predicts tensions between China and US will escalate

"No matter how the North Korean problem is resolved, tensions in US-Chinese relations will dominate," an expert said

© AP Photo/Shannon Stapleton, Pool

MOSCOW, May 29. /TASS/. Tensions between the US and China will continue to heat up as time goes on and will keep on escalating, Sergey Rogov, Academic Director of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, said today at the 3rd international conference dubbed "Russia and China: Towards a New Quality of Bilateral Relations."

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"No matter how the North Korean problem is resolved, tensions in US-Chinese relations will dominate," he said. "The US expert community is full of Chinese war scenarios."

"These studies focus on a US economic and energy blockade," he added. According to the expert, such scenarios are often of a "speculative character." "Still, the Trump administration confirmed that the country’s military policy will focus on the Pacific Ocean to restrain China," he noted.

"Over the last few years, the US has been conducting a policy of dual containment towards Russia and China," Rogov emphasized. "Trump doubted the US should continue this containment." According to the expert, "now the US plans to use Russia to contain China." "It will impede the development of a Russian-Chinese alliance and will urge Russia to take a neutral position or even support the US in containing China," he said.

At the same time, the expert noted Trump’s unexpected desire to cooperate with China. "Trump has demonstrated an intention of cooperating with China, so that the latter could urge Pyongyang to suspend the North Korean nuclear program," he said. "That’s exactly why Trump gave up his tough pre-election rhetoric on China."

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