Sino-Russian-American Relations and the Structure of the International System: From Multipolar to Bipolar? – 中俄美关系与国际结构:从多极到两极?

In the early days of the Cold War, the main theme of the international structure was unipolarity, and then multipolarity overwhelmed it. In recent years, the rise of bipolarity has challenged multipolarity. The two poles refer to China and the United States, and the basic indicator is the economic aggregate. However, from the perspective of comprehensive indicators, China still has obvious weaknesses, and the bipolar theory has not been unanimously recognized. The unique phenomenon of today’s international structure is that in both subjective perception and objective reality, bipolarity and multipolarity coexist, and their relationship can be described as a bipolar structure in a multipolar framework or a multipolar structure in which the bipolarity occupies a prominent position. This is a reflection of the complexity and contradictions of the actual international structure. This state will continue to be maintained for a long time in the future, but the trend is that the characteristics of the bipolar structure will become stronger. In the case of becoming one of the two poles, China should take multilateralism as the overall theory and concept, and should no longer use the concept of multi-polarity. Multilateralism is not linked to any specific international structure, so China is not affected by the change in its own status, and allows China’s diplomatic theory to correspond to various possible international structures, and also helps to maintain the theoretical basis of Sino-Russian international cooperation.