By David Volodzko
Both countries are guilt of contradictory actions — and of being deliberately provocative.
This week U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the South China Sea, commenting that “our visit is a symbol of our commitment to our rebalance and the importance of the Asia-Pacific to the United States.”
This “rebalance,” or pivot to Asia, became a popular term following Hillary Clinton’s June 2013 essay, “America’s Pacific Century,” in which she emphasized the importance of the Asia-Pacific region and outlined a set of goals, including strengthening ties with China.
But not everyone is a fan of the pivot, including Beijing. Robert S. Ross, professor of political science at Boston College and an associate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, wrote in “The Problem With the Pivot” that:
The new U.S. policy unnecessarily compounds Beijing’s insecurities and will only feed China’s aggressiveness, undermine regional stability, and decrease the possibility of cooperation between Beijing and Washington.
Read the full story at The Diplomat