Washington wants to revive some cold war era practices to ease tensions with Beijing
Detente was only achieved after going through the dangerous crises of the early cold war. It was after what one US official calls “the near-death experience” of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 — probably the closest the world has come to all-out nuclear war — that Washington and Moscow recognised the need to stabilise their relationship.
The underlying objection from Xi’s government is that the Biden administration is trying to institutionalise US military operations that China regards as fundamentally illegitimate. As the Chinese see it, America has no business promising to defend Taiwan or conducting freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety. As one Washington official puts it — “They think our talk of guardrails is like giving a speeding driver a seatbelt.
So, as well as trying to restart regular dialogue, the Americans are trying to change Xi’s calculations of the costs and benefits of using military force. That means working with allies to strengthen deterrence in the Indo-Pacific. The Biden administration thinks this is going well. They point to the substantial increases in Japan’s military spending; the signature of the Aukus treaty between the Australia, the UK and the US; the growing closeness of the relationship between Washington and Delhi; the strengthening of the Quad — linking America, India, Japan and Australia; and the Philippines’ decision to allow the US enhanced access to bases near Taiwan.
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