IRNA| Ali Torabi: For the first time �Triangle diplomacy� term was employed by Henry A. Kissinger for describing the relationship among Washington, Moscow, and Beijing in the early 1970s.


At that time it meant d�tente with the Soviet Union and rapprochement with China. In spite of China un-recognition by U.S before Richard Nixon coming to white house, he and his adviser Henry Kissinger �decided to exploit that rivalry to win advantages for the United States. That policy became known as triangular diplomacy.�1

From the 1970s China has been at the center of the attentions by U.S statesmen, U.S upper handed political reports such as The Global Trends (2030) are a mirror of future concerns; in the mentioned significant report, future China is the most significant power that would be source of challenges, competition and cooperation for U.S; a power that will surpass U.S:

China�s power would be consistently increased faster than expected (NIC, P7).2 With regard to the diffusion of power among countries by 2030 collaboration on a range of issues and challenges between China and U.S would be expectable (ibid, P 10).

Danger for U.S will be surpassing of North America and Europe by China based upon GDP. China alone will probably have the largest economy, surpassing that of the United States a few years before 2030 (ibid, p 12). In line with China importance for U.S according to the mentioned source the Asia-Pacific region is going to be �increasingly central to global commerce, politics, and security� (ibid, p26) as well.

According to the source, in the coming years, China would continue to counter U.S
strengths throughout of �using anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) approaches by employing other new cyber and space control technologies� (ibid, P 28). It can be concluded two dimension of U.S approach toward China will be competition and collaboration.

Regard to the Sino-Russian relationship and predictions of its future, Fu Ying in an article in the foreign Affairs discussed there are two main views consist of: �marriage of convenience� approach: it means a vulnerable and replete with uncertainties and Russia-China as an anti-U.S., anti-Western alliance (Ying, 2015). She stated neither view is the reality of China-Russia relations but their relations is �complex, sturdy, and deeply rooted. Changes in international relations since the end of the Cold War have only brought the two countries closer together� (ibid).

The reality of the Sino-Russian relationship is exactly the same as the nature of the interconnected economic world of the twenty-first century; as like as interconnected U.S- China. Today China and Russia are meshed and interconnected; according to Fu Ying, China became Russia�s largest trading partner and in 2014 alone, China�s investment in Russia was soared; �grew by 80 percent� (ibid). In line with what was said above, it is necessary to mention despite that level of interconnection between Russia and china their energy relation has been replete with �mutual suspicions, pricing concerns, inadequate transportation infrastructure, and competition for influence in Eurasia� (James Henderson & Tatiana Mitrova, 2016) 4.

From Chinese point of view, the tripartite relationship is not �a game in which two players ally against a third� (Ying, 2015) but a win-win game. In spite of some different criticism of international order China interest is embedded in the preservation of the current stable international world order. Future of U.S-China relations can be evaluated from liberal and realist pundits point of views; Liberalist pundits see future of this relation based upon collaboration, whereas realists believe their relations would lead to clashes and war.

To some extent U.S� future fate would be embedded in this started great game over balance of power in the road of triangle diplomacy Vis a Vis China and Russia? At the expense of starving itself of the cash and beginning of an avalanche of debt, U.S participated in the Armageddon of star wars to knock down Soviet Union. Now it seems again the result of the rising the other side of the triangle (China) challenges is pushing toward a new stage of a lethal game but it seems today balance of power is half a world away of cold war era. U.S� toolkit of cold war era was more equipped than now and China is not Soviet Union, even the nature and reality of the power in the 21th century is crystalized in the phenomenon of the diffusion of power in an interconnected world.

Despite this point that U.S and China are equipped by some tools versus each other, the main point is that China-U.S interests are on a common railroad; a stable order, thus there would not be need for more clashes.

Sources:
1- Triangular Diplomacy: U.S., USSR, and China, http://ww.ushistory.org/us/56g.asp
2- NIC. (2012). Global Trends 2030: Alternatives Worlds. Washington: A publication of the National Intelligence Council, www.dni.gov/nic/globaltrends.
3- Ying, F. (2015). How China Sees Russia. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2015-12-14/how-china-sees-russia.
4- James Henderson & Tatiana Mitrova (2016), Energy Relations between Russia and China: Playing Chess with the Dragon. https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Energy-Relations-between-Russia-and-China-Playing-Chess-with-the-Dragon-WPM-67.pdf.