“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” Gen. Mark Milley said.
His comments came as the U.S. redoubles efforts to strengthen its relationships with Pacific nations as a counterbalance to China, which is trying to expand its presence and influence in the region. The Biden administration considers China its “pacing threat" and America's primary long-term security challenge.
U.S. military officials have said Beijing wants to be ready to make a move on the island by 2027. The U.S. remains Taiwan’s chief ally and supplier of defense weapons. U.S. law requires the government to treat all threats to the island as matters of “grave concern,” but remains ambiguous on whether the U.S. military would defend Taiwan if it were attacked by China.
“This is an area in which China is trying to do outreach for their own purposes. And again, this is concerning because China is not doing it just for benign reasons,” Milley told reporters traveling with him. “They’re trying to expand their influence throughout the region. And that has potential consequences that are not necessarily favorable to our allies and partners in the region."
Milley declined to provide specific numbers of unsafe Chinese interactions with U.S. and allied aircraft and ships. But Austin, in a speech in Singapore last month, referred to an “alarming increase" in the number of unsafe intercepts by People's Liberation Army aircraft and vessels. Milley, who met on Sunday with Gen. Andika Perkasa, chief of the Indonesian National Defence Forces, said Pacific nations like Indonesia want the U.S. military involved and engaged in the region.“We want to work with them to develop interoperability and modernize our militaries collectively," Milley said, in order to ensure they can"meet whatever challenge that China poses.
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