Background – China and Russia relations In his speech at the first MEI - CENTCOM conference, General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of CENTCOM, argued that “we’re beginning to see a resurgence…of great power competition in the Central Command AOR [area of responsibility] as China and Russia begin to find weaknesses and begin to move into it. In Central Command, the Central Asian states and the central Gulf region, in fact, all of Central Command is becoming a newly active area of engagement between us and other great powers as we compete on the global stage.” This statement is anot...