By Aaron Mehta
WASHINGTON — The US has failed to articulate clearly a national strategy for dealing with China, something that has let the communist nation take an edge in the “rhetorical battle,” Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., warned an audience Tuesday.
Forbes, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's seapower and projection forces subcommittee, told an audience gathered at the Center for International and Strategic Studies that the government has spent too much time “tiptoeing around” the China issue rather than laying out how to deal with the rival nation.
While Forbes praised the focus on the Pacific put forth by the Obama administration, he said it has not been backed up by a cohesive strategy or metrics that are able to define progress on the core issue — whether US interests are winning out in the region, or if Chinese interests are.
“I’m not talking about military victories, I’m not talking about a zero-sum game. I’m talking about simply a definition of what ‘win’ is. And I don’t see that [from the US],” Forbes said.
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