Is Trump Pulling a Nixon in Reverse, Trying to Coax Russia Out of China's Orbit?

While making overtures to Putin, he has not engaged with Xi.

- Bhagyashree Garekar

To understand the unfolding American policy towards Asia, look not to the iconic Republican president Ronald Reagan, the leader President Donald Trump often names as his inspiration. Instead, consider Richard Nixon. The Cold War-era American president successfully engaged with China in the 1970s, when both Beijing and Moscow vied for leadership of the communist world and competed for influence in Asia while stationing millions of troops along their shared border.

If Reagan's was an ideological crusade against communism, Nixon's was a calculated and transactional approach. That ethos is mirrored in policy driven from the White House today. But it is not the most important parallel.

Along with his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, Mr. Nixon saw the chance to reshape Cold War dynamics by discarding decades-old barriers to engage with China. For the Americans, the gain was leverage against their arch-enemy, the Soviet Union, and a means to isolate North Vietnam, which relied on Chinese support during the Vietnam War.

Five decades later, is Mr. Trump doing a Nixon, only in reverse?

A RESET WITH RUSSIA Mr. Trump does not have the reputation of a grand strategist, but his actions over the past week suggest that he is opening up to Russia.

Is he also coaxing Russia away from China's orbit in an attempt to weaken America's top adversary? Is he trying to limit their "no-limits" partnership?

It is early days still, but Mr. Trump is well suited for the task. He is better disposed towards Russia than any other American president since the end of the Cold War, going by his effusive remarks that followed his Feb 12 phone call with President Vladimir Putin.