PLA has become more aggressive and dangerous: US chief of staff
New Delhi: Amid rising challenges for the US and India from China, the United States’ top military officer, during a trip to the Indo-Pacific that included a stop in Indonesia said, “the Chinese military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years.”
The US and others are also worried that a recent security agreement that Beijing signed in April with the Solomon Islands could lead to the establishment of a Chinese naval base in the South Pacific. The US and Australia have told the Solomon Islands that hosting a Chinese military base would not be tolerated.
Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said on Sunday that the number of intercepts by Chinese aircraft and ships in the Pacific region with the US and other partner forces had increased significantly over that time, and the number of unsafe interactions has risen by similar proportions.
“The message is the Chinese military, in the air and at sea, have become significantly more and noticeably more aggressive in this particular region,” said Milley, who recently asked his staff to compile details about interactions between China and the US and others in the region. Milley’s trip to the region is sharply focused on the China threat. He will attend a meeting of Indo-Pacific defense chiefs this coming week in Australia, where key topics will be China’s escalating military growth and the need to maintain a free, open, and peaceful Pacific.
US military officials have also raised alarms about the possibility that China could invade Taiwan – possibly by 2027. China has stepped up its military provocations against the self-ruled island as it looks to intimidate it into unifying with the communist mainland.
The Biden administration has been taking steps to expand its military and security relationship with Indo-Pacific nations as part of a campaign to build a stronger network of alliances in China’s backyard and counter China’s growing influence
Milley, who met on Sunday with Gen Andika Perkasa, chief of the Indonesian military, said Pacific nations like Indonesia wanted the US military involved and engaged in the region.
“Indonesia was strategically critical to the region, and had long been a key US partner. We want to work with them to develop interoperability and modernise our militaries collectively,” Milley said, in order to ensure they could “meet whatever challenge that China poses”.
(Vinayak)
