China and Russia “cannot be moved away” from one another, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told his counterpart Vladimir Putin Monday, in their first phone call since US President Donald Trump upended American foreign policy with a sweeping pivot toward Moscow as he pushes for peace in Ukraine.

China pushed back against recent remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, declaring that Washington could never "sow discord" in its ties with Moscow. Newsweek reached out to the White House and the Russian Foreign Ministry via email for comment.

Moscow and Beijing, seeking to disrupt and intimidate the West, have intensified their attacks on undersea data cables, forcing the United States and its partners to protect critical connections.

Unlike Nixon and Kissinger’s gambit in the 1970s, the strategy threatens to divide the West.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss a wide range of topics, including relations with the U.S. and the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday during a phone call, during which the leaders praised Moscow-Beijing ties as a stabilizing force in international affairs.

China's President Xi Jinping had a call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Monday and said he was pleased with Moscow's efforts to hold a summit with the U.S. toward ending the war in Ukraine,

Trump’s rapprochement with Russia has some experts suggesting he might be trying to do a “reverse Nixon” and isolate Beijing by courting Moscow.

China and Russia’s 2022 proclamation of a “no limits” partnership with “no ‘forbidden’ areas” has had a far-reaching effect. The agreement implied that Beijing and Moscow were about to resurrect their long-defunct alliance that,

History and reality show that China and Russia are good neighbors that cannot be moved away, and true friends who share wealth and woe,” Xi told Putin, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua. “The development strategies and foreign policies of China and Russia are for the long-term,

China said it was ‘glad to see all efforts committed to peace’ by Moscow and Washington, but stressed that Ukraine must eventually be included.