美国总统大选之后，媒体纷纷预测特朗普的外交政策，其中关于美中、美俄关系的走势，议论尤其热烈。

鉴于2016年适逢《中俄睦邻友好合作条约》签署15周年和中俄战略协作伙伴关系建立20周年，中俄关系显得更加亲密，对此有些美国人士似乎感觉不爽。

其实，自从苏联解体、冷战结束以来，俄美之间也曾有过相当接近的经历，而中国倡导与美国发展友好合作关系更是坚持不懈。

人们记得，上世纪90年代最初几年，俄罗斯首任总统叶利钦曾竭力谋求与美国亲善。当时在一些人眼里，俄罗斯的对美政策甚至要高于对华政策。因为手捧衰颓不堪的俄罗斯，叶利钦指望选择美欧道路来振兴国家，热切希望得到美国和西欧大国的资金和技术援助。

然而，当时美国对俄罗斯颇不放心。一是担心叶利钦能否坐稳江山，政局会不会逆转，因为当时俄罗斯共产党的势力还相当强大。二是总觉得俄罗斯毕竟是由苏联脱胎而来的庞然大物，其核武库之巨大、国家版图之辽阔、自然资源之丰富，傲立全球，担心它一旦强盛起来，会成为又一个苏联。于是，美国对叶利钦的援助可以说是杯水车薪，口惠而实不至。也正是在这样的背景下，美国不断地推动北约东扩。叶利钦失望了。在普里马科夫先后担任外长和政府总理期间，俄罗斯加强了与中国的合作，1996年4月与中国建立了平等互信、面向21世纪的战略协作伙伴关系。

1999年3月美国发动科索沃战争，更使叶利钦对美国绝望。他在内外交困的境遇下，黯然辞去总统职务。普京横空出世。

普京是明白人，他深知要振兴俄罗斯，必须与美国合作。2001年11月他首次出访美国，与布什总统发布两国“新关系”联合声明。称俄罗斯与美国“已经克服了冷战的残余，任何一方都不把另一方视为敌人或威胁的来源”，提出要“建立保障俄美双方安全以及国际安全的新战略框架”。

随后，2002年5月，布什总统对俄罗斯进行正式访问，与普京签署俄美《削减进攻性战略武器条约》和关于“新型战略关系”的联合声明，称两国“走上了21世纪新关系的道路，忠于在友好、合作、共同价值、信任、公开性和可预见性的基础上发展相互关系的原则”。布什还说，他的俄罗斯之行使两国抛弃了冷战时代的互相猜疑，“武器已经不再互相瞄准”，美俄将进入关系友好的新时代。普京也说，美国已不再是俄罗斯的敌人，俄美关系将进入一个新纪元。

以上足以说明，普京一开始对美国是寄予厚望的，双方竟然采取了“新型战略关系”这样的高调。当时中国并没有因俄美之间的接近而心生疑窦，相反是乐见其成的。

2001年发生“911”事件后，俄美在反恐方面又有过合作。俄罗斯甚至同意美国在它的传统势力范围——吉尔吉斯斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦设立空军基地。

然而，此后美国的一系列举措激怒普京，引起反抗，两国关系日趋恶化。那就是北约进一步向原苏联版图推进，还先后在中亚等地策划“颜色革命”，接着又在东欧某些国家部署反导系统，还不时在中东挑战俄罗斯的既得利益，等等。而2014年初在乌克兰策动的基辅广场骚乱，事与愿违，导致民族历史渊怨复燃，给普京提供了拿回克里米亚的机会，乌克兰被肢解，其严重后果会蔓延久远。

在美俄关系日趋复杂化的过程中，中俄关系的确从多方面得到了新的发展。

中俄两国发展睦邻友好合作关系，是出于各自的利益需要，并非针对第三国，这是问题的本质。不过，话要说回来，倘若某个第三国对俄罗斯和中国图谋不轨，那么，毋庸讳言，中俄战略协作伙伴关系客观上存在防范与应对第三国威胁的作用。

中国在与俄罗斯发展关系的同时，真心实意地一再提出要在不冲突、不对抗、相互尊重、合作共赢基础上与美国建立新型国家关系。这已为举世熟知。

所以说，美国用不着顾虑中俄接近，这与俄罗斯不必担心中国与美国构建新型大国关系同一个道理。

值此美国领导人换届之际，普京与特朗普不乏相互赞美之词，普京且率先作出友好姿态。特朗普为本国着想，对俄关系势必有所调整，问题在于进度和限度。其前景正给人以某种期待。

当今美中俄三家的关系，对世界局势的影响是举足轻重的。三方应该也可能形成一种最佳结合状态，那就是本着合作共赢的原则，相互尊重，彼此借重，推进世界经济良性循环，合力应对各种自然灾害，携手打击公敌恐怖主义，建立和维护公正合理的国际秩序，从而既有利于自身，又有利于世界的和平、稳定与发展。

With the dust of the US presidential election settled, the media are caught in wild guesses and debate about what president-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy will be like, in particular, about the future of US-China and US-Russia relationships.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia as well as the 20th anniversary of the establishment of their strategic partnership of coordination, so it is only natural for the two getting closer to each other than ever. Some Americans, however, are somewhat concerned about this.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Russia and the United States also experienced a period of close relations. During that period, China still worked hard to develop friendly cooperative relations with the US.

Memories are still fresh. In the first years of the 1990s, Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, sought to develop goodwill with the US. Many even believed that Russia favored cultivating the US over its relations with China. Russia then was very weak and still declining, so Yeltsin bet big on the US and Europe to help rejuvenate his country, hoping that Russia would get capital and technological assistance from the US and Western European countries.

However, the reality was very discouraging: The US showed little trust in Russia. First, it was yet to be convinced that Yeltsin could stay in power and the political situation would not be reversed, because the influence of the Russian Communist Party was then still too big to be ignored. Second, the US believed that Russia, as a big power emerging from the debris of the Soviet Union, still had a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons, the biggest territory in the world and rich natural resources. Washington was very much worried that if Russia regained vitality, it could become another Soviet Union. Therefore, the assistance promised was very small or just lip services. And at the same time, the US sped up the eastward expansion of NATO. During the period when Yevgeny Primakov served as the foreign minister and prime minister, Russia strengthened its cooperation with China. In April 1996, the two countries signed the partnership of strategic coordination based on equality and benefit and orientation towards the 21st century.

In March 1999, the US launched the Kosovo War, and this made Yeltsin give up his last hope in the US. Beset by domestic and international troubles, Yeltsin resigned, and Vladimir Putin came to power.

Putin knew very well that the rejuvenation of Russia called for cooperation with the US. In November 2001, he made his first visit to the US, and issued a joint statement with President George W. Bush on “a new relationship”. The statement said Russia and the US “have overcome the legacy of the Cold War. Neither country regards the other as an enemy or threat.” It also put forward the proposal of “the creation of a new strategic framework to ensure the mutual security of the United States and Russia, and the world community”.

In May 2002, Bush paid an official visit to Russia, and signed with Putin the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Reductions as well as the joint declaration on the new strategic relationship. The declaration said that the two countries have “embarked upon the path of new relations for the 21st century, and committed to developing a relationship based on friendship, cooperation, common values, trust, openness and predictability”. Bush said his visit helped the two countries discard distrust in and suspicion of each other left from the Cold War era, and their “weapons are no longer pointed at each other”, and Russia-US relations had moved into a new era of friendship. Putin also said that the US was no longer an enemy, and the relations between the two countries had been elevated onto a new stage.

These showed that Putin once had high expectations of the US, and the two sides even used a high-profile term — “new strategic relations”. Still, China had no discomfort about the rapprochement between the US and Russia, and instead was willing to see further improvements in their relations.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, Russia and the US also cooperated in the war against terror. Russia tolerated the US in setting up airbases in its traditional sphere of influence, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

A series of moves by the US, however, angered Putin, causing confrontations between the two countries and a deterioration of their relations. They included further eastward expansion of NATO, the “color revolutions” plotted in the Central Asian region, the deployment of anti-missile systems in some East European countries, and endless challenges to Russia's vested interests in the Middle East. In early 2014, the Kiev independent square uprising rekindled historical animosity between Russia and Ukraine, and this offered a chance for Putin to take back the Crimea. The uprising failed its anticipated goal and Ukraine was split, with the grave consequences still lingering.

At a time when US-Russia relations became increasingly complicated, Sino-Russian relations made new progress.

China and Russia have been developing good neighborly and friendly cooperative relations, based on their own needs and not targeted at any third country. If any third party, however, plots against Russia or China, their strategic partnership of coordination should, in essence, play a role in preventing and coping with any threats from the third country.

China, while developing relations with Russia, also advocates forging a new model of major-country relations with the US under the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation. This is the well-known pursuit of China.

Therefore, there is no need for the US to worry about the rapprochement between China and Russia. And the same applies to Russia, and it should not be concerned about the development of a new model of major-country relations between China and the US.

At a time of power transition in the US, Putin and Trump already have sung praise towards each other, and Putin showed a posture of being friendly with Trump. Trump, for the benefits of the US, would naturally adjust his foreign policy towards Russia, and what remains to be seen is how fast and to what extent the adjustments will be made.

The relations among China, Russia and the US have direct and significant bearing on the global situation. The three countries should form a kind of synergy to promote the development of the global economy, cope with natural disasters, fight against terrorism, and forge and defend a just and rational international order. This will not only be beneficial to their own interests, but also conducive to world peace, stability and development.