I feel like I’m missing something here. US doing that would have made them much stronger against China. I mean just imagine how much more robust the European economy would be if all the gas going to China was going right to Europe.
Though in typing that out I may have answered my own question. Is it really just because US wanted to European market to themselves? This seems incredibly short sighted.
It’s a good point that US would prefer facing China-Russia rather than losing influence in Europe. It also important to note that the US never predicted Russia would turn to China. They thought Russia was more scared of China than of the US. It’s obviously foolish today, but you can understand the logic when you hear liberals sometimes still claim that China will backstab Russia. Perhaps this is partly due to projection.
Another point on US misperceiving China, the US has done so throughout its history. A good book on this is the China Mirage by James Bradley.