The US response to China (catch all)

[AdamG]

The West may be too late to stop Beijing in S. China Sea, says analyst
The Pentagon warns Beijing is continuing to destabilize one of the most contested regions in the world. Senior Lowy Institute Fellow Sam Roggeveen speaks with News Stream.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2018/0...-china-sea.cnn

[AdamG]

Indicators

SINGAPORE — Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis harshly criticized the Chinese government on Saturday for its continuing militarization of a string of islands in the South China Sea, calling the new presence of advanced military equipment and missiles there a flagrant show of military power.

“Despite China’s claims to the contrary, the placement of these weapons systems is tied directly to military use for the purposes of intimidation and coercion,” Mr. Mattis said during a speech on Saturday at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/w...china-sea.html

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON/TAIPEI (Reuters) - Two U.S. warships passed through the Taiwan Strait on Saturday on a voyage that will likely be viewed in the self-ruled island as a sign of support by President Donald Trump amid heightened tension with China. "Two U.S. Navy ships conducted a routine transit through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait on July 7-8 (local time)," Captain Charlie Brown, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Fleet, told Reuters in a statement.

"U.S. Navy Ships transit between the South China Sea and East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years," Brown said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-warship...021648932.html

[AdamG]

The U.S. State Department has issued a request for U.S. Marines to be stationed in Taiwan for the protection of diplomatic personal in Taipei, according to CNN. The request comes as China ramps up military exercises in the Taiwan Straits amid a looming trade war with the U.S.

https://taskandpurpose.com/marines-taiwan-china-mattis/

[AdamG]

China is waging a 'quiet kind of cold war' against US, top CIA expert says

Beijing doesn't want to go to war, a top CIA expert on Asia said, but the current communist government, under President Xi Jinping, is subtly working on multiple fronts to undermine the U.S. in ways that are different than the more well-publicized activities being employed by Russia.

"I would argue ... that what they're waging against us is fundamentally a cold war -- a cold war not like we saw during THE Cold War (between the U.S. and the Soviet Union) but a cold war by definition," Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA's East Asia mission center, said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/21/us-c...gainst-us.html

[AdamG]

Beijing (AFP) - China on Saturday rejected what it called an "irresponsible" Pentagon report claiming Beijing's bombers are likely training for strikes against US and allied targets in the Pacific. The Thursday report said China was leveraging its growing military, economic and diplomatic clout to rapidly establish regional dominance, while its bombers were developing capabilities to hit targets as far from the Chinese mainland as possible. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the report was "presumptuous and irresponsible", stating it was "in total disregard of facts" in a Saturday statement.

China is engaged in a decades-long build-up and modernisation of its once-backward armed forces, and military leaders have set a goal of fielding a world-class force by 2050. Last year, six Chinese H-6K bombers flew through the Miyako Strait in the southwest of the Japanese islands, and then for the first time turned north to fly east of Okinawa, where 47,000 US troops are based

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-rej...113003575.html

[AdamG]

Why Japan Truly Failed at Pearl Harbor (And What China May Learn From It)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-japan...160000942.html

In short, this is a rival who seems to have learned from Yamamoto: don’t jab a sleeping giant, and if you do, don’t steel his resolve. Let him slumber until it’s late in the contest, and you may prevail. China may have learned the true lessons of Pearl Harbor. Let’s do the same—and get ready.

[AdamG]

Washington (CNN)China's top naval officer canceled a visit to the US to meet with his American counterpart less than 48 hours before the meeting was scheduled to occur, according to two US defense officials.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/polit...ing/index.html

HONG KONG — China has denied a request for a U.S. warship to visit Hong Kong, American officials said Tuesday. The incident came amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over tariffs and follows the U.S. last week imposing sanctions on China after it bought arms from Russia. The USS Wasp, an amphibious assault ship, had been due to make a port call in the former British colony of Hong Kong in October, diplomatic sources told Reuters.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/c...k-hong-n912846

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China has canceled a security meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis that had been planned for October, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday, days after a top Chinese official said there was no reason to panic over tensions between the countries.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1MB17G

[AdamG]

China says its economy is slowing. Its central bank may be preparing to intervene
China's central bank is likely to cut reserve requirement ratios for banks one more time this year, said Jeff Ng, chief economist for Asia at Continuum Economics.
Over the weekend, a private survey showed growth in China's factory sector stalled after 15 months of expansion, with export orders falling the fastest in over two years.
An official survey also confirmed a further weakening in the manufacturing sector.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/01/beij...economist.html

[AdamG]

Yanjun Xu, a senior officer with China’s Ministry of State Security, is accused of seeking to steal trade secrets from leading defence aviation firms, top Justice Department officials said

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...and-extradited

[AdamG]

TAIPEI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait on Monday in the second such operation this year, as the U.S. military increases the frequency of transits through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

The voyage risks further heightening tensions with China but will likely be viewed in self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support by President Donald Trump’s government, amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-t...-idUSKCN1MW1Z0

[AdamG]

Probably also warrants a separate thread under Futurists.

Retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who was U.S. Army commander in Europe from 2014-17, told the forum that it's likely but not inevitable that the United States will be at war with China in 15 years.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/y...-general-says/
See also
http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...Battle-Concept

[AdamG]

Time for your Survival Kit Contents Check?

Amid increasing tensions with Beijing, the Pentagon on Tuesday released a new report that lays out U.S. concerns about China's growing military might, underscoring worries about a possible attack against Taiwan.

Speaking to reporters, a senior defense intelligence official said the key concern is that as China upgrades its military equipment and technology and reforms how it trains and develops troops, it becomes more confident in its ability to wage a regional conflict. And Beijing's leaders have made it clear that reasserting sovereignty over Taiwan is their top priority.

The official added, however, that although China could easily fire missiles at Taiwan, it doesn't yet have the military capability to successfully invade the self-governing island, which split from mainland China amid civil war in 1949. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to provide more detail on intelligence findings in the report, which was written by the Defense Intelligence Agency.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wire...aiwan-60400254

[AdamG]

A U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke guided-missile destroyer and a Coast Guard National Security Cutter completed a transit of the Taiwan strait early Monday, the fifth such transit in six months. The move was immediately decried by Chinese officials.

USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) and U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Bertholf (WSML-750)
completed transiting the roughly 110-mile wide body of water separating mainland China from Taiwan early Monday, according to media accounts and first reported by The Japan Times.

https://news.usni.org/2019/03/25/421...jQJBYIL-CkLPY8

[AdamG]

A tiny island off the coast of Japan has just become the centre of attention in the escalating game of brinkmanship being played out in the South and East China Seas. Ie Shima is only 23 square kilometres large. It has an airstrip, a fishing port and a population of about 4500. It’s just been attacked by a US Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).

https://amp.news.com.au/technology/i...5O4XoSPkzfv4lA