U.S. General Says China Becomes More Aggressive in The Pacific

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a Pentagon news conference in Washington on Wednesday.

Milley has warned that Communist China’s air and sea forces are “noticeably more aggressive” in the Pacific.

He added that there had been a significant increase in the number of interceptions by Chinese aircraft and ships with the United States in the Pacific, including “unsafe interactions”.

The top U.S. general made the comments while visiting the Indo-Pacific as the country tries to reorganize its allies there to counterbalance Chinese dominance. Chinese General Li Zuocheng said in a phone call with Milley this month that there was “no room for compromise” on Taiwan.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently struck a security deal with the Solomon Islands, raising U.S. concerns about the regime of Xi Jinping’s apparent intention to build a naval base in the South Pacific.

Milley stressed that China is trying to “outreach” in the region and “not just for benign reasons”. The U.S. general said the communist nation was trying to increase its influence across the region, with “political consequences” for U.S. allies in the region.

U.S. and Chinese officials held talks last month after clashes over Taiwan and other issues following a meeting between U.S. security adviser Jack Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi. But the two sides failed to reach a compromise on Taiwan. Yang said that the Taiwan issue concerns the political foundation of China-US relations. It will have a subversive effect if improperly handled. Milley added that Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and Canada had intercepted the increased flow of the Chinese.