Second Cold War

The terms Second Cold War, Cold War II, and New Cold War have been used to describe heightened geopolitical tensions in the 21st century, usually between the United States and either China or Russia—the latter of which is the successor state of the Soviet Union, which led the Eastern Bloc during the original 1947–1991 Cold War.

The terms are sometimes used to describe tensions in multilateral relations, including China–Russia relations. Some commentators have used the terms as a comparison to the original Cold War, while others have discouraged their use to refer to any ongoing tensions.