“The most pressing issue right now concerns China’s reckless assertions of sovereignty over the entire Taiwan Strait, and the militarization of seven islands in the South China Sea. ”
It’s next to impossible to find a serious student of international affairs or military strategy who doesn’t think the strategic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China has reached a new nadir. Things were very uncomfortable before Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s Aug. 2 visit to Taipei set off, prompting Beijing to initiate its most ambitious series of naval exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan yet. Those exercises amounted to more than saber-rattling.
Indeed, there is a clear consensus among both military and political experts that the Taiwan Strait is the most likely place for American and Chinese forces to clash, that such a conflict could well begin soon, that it could all too easily escalate to a major war, and that American and Taiwanese deterrence against such an attack is too weak and in need of beefing up, pronto.
And then there is the generally ominous issue of the PRC’s long-range intentions. Most Western international relations and China scholars now reject Beijing’s depiction of its new assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region as an integral part of its “peaceful rise,” and believe it is pursuing a strategy of regional hegemony in Asia.
Of great concern to American policymakers and military strategists has been Beijing’s steadily improving “anti-access/area denial” capabilities, which are designed, as defense expert Michele Flournoy writes in a recent issue ofinto East Asia in order to defend its interests or allies. As a result, in the event that conflict starts, the United States can no longer expect to quickly achieve air, space, or maritime superiority; the U.S.
a plentiful supply of anti-ship missiles, cyber capability, and special forces who can neutralize China’s advance teams and air defense systems
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