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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un left eastern Russia on Sunday, capping off a six-day visit that served as a high-profile sign of the budding relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow.
This pair of pariah states may be troubling enough. But China is also in the mix, creating a trilateral threat that the West must take seriously, says RAND's Bruce Bennett.
There are a few key reasons to be concerned. To start, North Korean and Chinese assistance to Russia could prolong the war in Ukraine and substantially increase its damages and costs.
Further, China and North Korea might send military personnel and technical experts—not just equipment and supplies. If they do, then this would render Ukraine a “laboratory” for the three countries to examine and improve various weapons and tactics, Bennett says.
There's also a chance that North Korea, Russia, and China may at some point decide to start wars simultaneously. Any major war they launch has a serious possibility of involving nuclear weapons use.
While there are no silver bullets, there are ways the United States and its allies and partners can counter this trilateral imperialist partnership. The first step, Bennett says, is better understanding the future of warfare. After all, Western powers “will not properly prepare for or deter a future war unless they can first characterize it.”
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