A significant portion of our national security establishment, painstakingly built up during the Cold War, has accepted the assumption that when it comes to threats from sovereign states, Russia, not China, is America's leading adversary. We routinely hear our national leaders speak of Vladimir Putin's bad behavior in places such as Ukraine and Syria, which further enhances the notion that the most formidable challenge to the preeminence of the U.S. in a post-Cold War world is Moscow, not Beijing.

Or, when China's revisionist actions and military growth can no longer escape our attention, we often put Russia and China—always in that order—into one category as if Moscow and Beijing are bound together through a common strategic vision against the U.S.-led world order.