Former President Donald Trump says that China and Russia are growing closer, and the risk of nuclear war is increasing as a result of the failed leadership of the Biden administration, he told an audience at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on March 4.
Trump said during a nearly two-hour speech in National Harbor, Maryland, that while he was in office, an important national security goal was to “never allow Russia and China to get together.” He blasted President Joe Biden for making the two nuclear powers “buddies.”
In February, China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held a meeting in Moscow to expand the “mutually beneficial cooperation” between the two countries. That occurred just days before the first anniversary of the beginning of the Ukraine conflict.
Putin has spoken positively about the progress of Russia–China relations, highlighting the potential for further advancements in areas like bilateral trade.
Trump lays the blame on Biden.
The former president criticized Biden for his weak leadership, suggesting that Putin decided to invade Ukraine after witnessing Biden’s failed withdrawal from Afghanistan during his first year in office. Trump said he believes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wouldn’t have taken place if he was still in office.
“Russia never would have pulled the trigger,” he said. “There would have been no obliterated cities that can never be rebuilt.”
“I had the personality that kept us out of World War III.”
Things could get worse now, Trump said, with Biden risking nuclear annihilation by continuing to fund Ukraine. Officials in the current administration have echoed similar concerns.
In an interview with The Financial Times, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Cairman Gen. Mark Milley said the war will ultimately have to end at the negotiating table and not on the battlefield.
“In this particular case, it’s against a country that is large and is nuclear-armed. So you have to be very, very conscious about managing escalation.”
Trump criticized some of his former generals for pursuing policies that kept U.S. troops abroad indefinitely, something Trump said is bad for America.
Trump advocated for a “policy of peace through strength,” mentioning that no new wars were starting during his presidency and no American soldiers lost their lives in service of their country.
“This is the most dangerous time in the history of our country that Joe Biden is leading us into oblivion.”
