Peace through strength? US rattles China with new defenses near Taiwan.
When an American four-star general warned his commanders in a leaked letter last month that, while he hoped he was wrong, his “gut” told him the United States will be at war with China in a couple of years, Pentagon officials publicly insisted the comments do not represent their view of the matter.
That said, they also announced an increase in the U.S. military’s footprint in Asia last week, with more troops headed to the Philippines as part of a new basing agreement – a handy setup should Beijing, say, try to invade Taiwan.
Chinese officials called the move “selfish,” adding that it “endangers regional peace” and “escalates tensions.” From the Pentagon’s perspective – particularly on the heels of scrambling to shoot down a suspected spy balloon loitering over U.S. nuclear silos – that’s Beijing’s forte.
Stationing some U.S. forces at Philippine military bases, about three decades after large American bases there closed, is widely viewed as an effort to contain Chinese aggression in the region
