Yes, getting Russia to focus on Asia would be helpful to us in defending Europe:
As Russia reengages in Central Asia, it will increasingly find itself clashing with China for influence in the region. This would inevitably create tensions in the increasingly close relationship between Beijing and Moscow. These tensions would force Russia to concentrate more on the long-term threat a rising China poses to its national security.
I agree. A Russia worried more about Asia would be good. A Russia-Chinese competition would be helpful. Which is why I've wanted us to encourage China to pivot to Asia's interior, too.
And Russian efforts to bolster points of resistance to China--like Vietnam--should be encouraged. Heck, I think we should try to get Russia to sell submarines to Taiwan, as long as Russia is selling them to Vietnam.
I'm not saying this would be easy. But with our forces moving out of Central Asia, quiet words to both China and Russia that we have no real interest in the region--so don't care if either fills the vacuum we are leaving--might go a long way to sparking a little useful friction between Russia and China.
And making sure eastern NATO, Ukraine, Japan, and Taiwan are hard targets too difficult to defeat is absolutely necessary to making the interior of Asia look like an easier target.
Our core allies at the outer edges of Russia and China would appreciate it if these two looked to the interior of Asia for their gains.
