On Sunday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley accused the Chinese military of being more “aggressive” in the Asia Pacific region.
“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” Milley told reporters while on his way to Asia.
Milley said the Chinese military had stepped up its “dangerous” intercepts of aircraft against the US and its allies.
Missing from Milley’s comments is the context that the US and its allies have significantly stepped up their military presence in sensitive waters near China in recent years.
According to the Beijing-based South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), US military activity against China has “strengthened in terms of the frequency and intensity” since 2009. In 2021, the think tank says there was a “sharp rise” in US military activity in the South China Sea compared with 2020.
In 2020, the US flew nearly 1,000 reconnaissance sorties over the South China Sea, according to the SCSPI. In 2021, the number of US sorties over the disputed waters increased to around 1,200. The US has also stepped up the deployment of aircraft carriers and other warships in the region.
The US has rallied its Western allies to join in the provocations against China in the region. Last year, Germany, France, and the UK all sent warships into the South China Sea.
Milley recently ordered a review of all US military encounters with the Chinese military over the past five years. Pentagon officials said he ordered the review in light of escalating encounters between the two militaries in the South China Sea.
Genaral Milley Vanili has focused so much on white rage, he has forgotten what it is to be in the real military.
To not want to put his men in harms way. Be prepared. Don’t look for fights unless truly for defense.
Trade with China was getting us what we wanted. It still is. We seem to be trying to kill the golden goose. What makes anyone think that we can improve our situation by trying to intimidate China?
I know that some people actually believe that China is the reason we have lost so many manufacturing jobs. But US manufacturing output has not suffered. Almost all of the jobs that have been lost are due to automation.
Free trade improves lives on all sides, and reduces the incidence of war.
With that in mind, you might want to think what “we” wanted in terms of who “we” is.
The US regime (like all regimes) doesn’t care if it’s harder and more expensive for you to live, or if the peace is kept, if higher costs of living and greater likelihood of war is the price of maintaining its power.
The regime is one “we,” and the rest of us are a different “we.”
When it comes to impeding trade, the increased belligerence (which means more money for the military and “defense” contractors) is a feature, not a bug, from the regime’s perspective.
They were lost before automation. And yes, manufacturing jobs are still here but with a much lesser wage attached.
And no more pensions either, Wars, just 401k’s.
Or other benefits. And it’s funny how my skilled job became unskilled because someone on the other side of the world was forced to do it for shit wages.
Patently untrue, Duane…sorry.
During the waning days of the GM plant where my husband worked his entire life, his job was to help disassemble dies that were to be sent to China.
Ain’t that a pisser? Getting paid to lose your job because your place of employment was moving its operations oversees.
That plant produced tanks for the US military during WWII and was commonly known to the oldsters as the “tank plant”.
Some thanks.
and GM used parts factories from China beause of lower prices, wherein American workers lost their jobs.
I worked at a place that made water pumps. We got some of our impellers from China. When they arrived we’d have to sort the parts to find the ones that were actually in tolerance. The bores on impellers had to be within +/- .ooo5 so they could be pressed onto a shaft. We’d stick gages in the bore that wouldn’t even register. But they made them so fucking cheap, they were still a “bargain”. So yeah, lower prices indeed.
The US is occupied by brainwashed Pentagoners. They have a cult leader named Dr. Strangelove and are enemies of life on Earth.
You made my day with your summation!
This is a wonderful strategy and seemingly, fairly typical for the US/West Military Alliance. We kick the stone until the toe is bruised and bleeding and then complain about it with a very loud voice to try and get everyones attention…
Like kicking a dog repeatedly and when he finally bites blaming the dog’s aggression.
“escalating encounters between the two militaries in the South China Sea”…
That really says it all! (Highly provocative…)
Imagine China being off the coast of San Francisco, CA, with military vessels…
Someone is going to raise a ruckus!….
Correct. Of course Milley knows that.
“Chinese military, have become noticeably more aggressive in this particular region”
in the south china sea, which is china’s region, not uncle sam’s
Correct. In military nomenclature, it is their area of interest.
These military buffoons are on a suicide mission…China will crush the US military, because the can do not respect the US anymore, and have surpassed it on all fronts.
More aggressive? I still remember the collision that a Chinese jet had with a spy plane, forcing it to land during GW’s administration.
America does surveillance flight thousands of miles from home near China’s shores – “China is being aggressive”
South China Sea rocks are a mess of claims from like 7 countries that nobody will be able to figure out in our lifetimes. We don’t need to constantly fly planes and sail warships there just to provoke the Chinese.