Military-to-military relations still stabilizer for Sino-US relations

THE US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE released a 55-page Indo-Pacific Strategy Report on Saturday, and acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan highlighted the key message of the report in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on the same day. China Daily reporter Li Yang comments:

The so-called Indo-Pacific strategy is actually focused on Asia and is a legacy of Shanahan's predecessor James Mattis, although it can trace its origins back to the Barack Obama administration's "pivot to Asia" and even the Asia-Pacific policies of the George W. Bush administration.

However, none of these stratagems, all customized to contain China, has taken the steam out of the world's most robust growth engine, or prevented it from weaving close ties in various fields with the rest of the region.