"all over the world, countries are hedging, seeking to reduce their vulnerability to both China and the United States" [both China and the United States]
The quote directly names the structural dynamic: third-party states are not choosing sides but hedging against both superpowers simultaneously, which is the mechanism the signal claims is preventing bloc formation.
Reasoning from this article
The article documents this hedging pattern across Europe, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America — regions with very different relationships to both powers. The consistent response across such diverse geographies suggests a systemic structural shift rather than region-specific reactions. This generalizes beyond the current US-China moment: whenever two dominant powers both exhibit predatory or unreliable behavior simultaneously, the rational response for smaller states is portfolio diversification across patrons rather than alignment with either.