China’s Snub of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Is Our Problem, and Beijing’s
Commentary
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has repeatedly requested, since Biden’s presidency, a meeting with China’s top military officer, only to be rebuffed, according to information revealed by U.S. defense officials in a May 21 Financial Times report. Beijing’s snub of Mr. Austin is being interpreted by some, optimistically, as a petty bureaucratic rivalry. However, the dispute indicates dangerously self-defeating behavior on the part of both Beijing and Washington D.C., just as military tensions are increasing between the United States and allies on one side, and China and its allies, on the other.
Palau invites U.S. military to build on remote islands China sees tiny nation as a big prize Follow Us
Question of the Day
By Richard S. Ehrlich - Special to The Washington Times - - Wednesday, May 5, 2021
BANGKOK American troop deployments can spark tensions and resistance in other parts of the world, but the tiny nation of Palau has invited the U.S. military to build ports, bases and airfields on its Pacific islands in the face of rising Chinese economic intimidation, according to defiant President Surangel Whipps.
The Palau response is an illustration of a larger phenomenon at work around Asia. As China grows increasingly wealthy, powerful and assertive, more and more of its regional neighbors are speaking up and pushing back.
Pentagon Campaign to Recruit Vietnam as Military Ally Against China Exposed Delusions of US War Strategy antiwar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from antiwar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Pentagon Campaign to Recruit Vietnam as Military Ally Against China Exposed Delusions of U.S. War Strategy
After convincing itself Vietnam would grant it access for missile bases against China, the Pentagon got a hard dose of reality.
By Gareth PORTER
When the Pentagon began gearing up for a future war with China in 2018, Defense Department officials quickly realized that they needed access to Vietnamese territory for troops armed with missiles to hit Chinese ships in a US-China conflict. So they initiated an aggressive campaign to lobby the Vietnamese government, and even Communist Party officials, in the hope that they would eventually support an agreement to provide them the permission.