A critical role of bond competition in tailoring Mn valence state and bifunctional electrocatalyst activity of manganese oxide is evidenced by the remarkable improvement of the electrocatalyst activity of alpha-MnO2 upon the partial substitution of electronegative Ru4+ ion. The replacement of Mn4+ ion with more electronegative Re4+ one is quite effective in weakening adjacent (Mn-O) bonds in terms of bond competition, leading to the stabilization of Jahn-Teller active Mn3+ species, as well as in providing electrocatalytically active Ru sites. The resulting Ru-substituted alpha-Mn1-xRuxO2 nanowires show much higher electrocatalyst activities for both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) than does the physical mixture of alpha-MnO2 and RuO2, indicating the main role of (Mn-O) bond covalency in the optimization of the bifunctional electrocatalyst activity of manganese oxide. The present study underscores that, like the previous strategy of structural disorder enhancement, the substitution of highly electronegative cation can provide a novel efficient way of improving the electrocatalyst performance of manganese oxide via the bond competition between adjacent (Ru-O) and (Mn-O) bonds.