To quieten drumbeats of war in US and China, cool heads must prevail
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At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Hegseth said the 'threat China poses' could be 'imminent', warning that altering the
first island chain status quo by force would be 'unacceptable'. He has repeatedly stressed that the US is prepared for war with China, mirroring Beijing's pledge to '
fight till the end ' against the US in any type of war. These reciprocal threats fuel nationalist fervour, normalising rhetoric once reserved for Cold War brinkmanship. This tension manifests in actions, not just words.
The recent Quad foreign ministers meeting in Washington
put aside internal trade tensions and reinforced strategic alignment against 'coercion' in the Indo-Pacific, largely viewed as a reference to China. More provocatively, the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington
sailed to Manila on the same day that China's first indigenously designed aircraft carrier Shandong
made a port call to Hong Kong and weeks after China's two carrier groups
conducted drills in the West Pacific.
Tellingly, during the American carrier's port visit to the Philippines, the People's Liberation Army's Southern Theatre Command announced the organisation of naval and air forces to conduct combat readiness patrols in the territorial waters and airspace near the disputed Huangyan Island (also known as the Scarborough Shoal).
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