https://www.navytimes.com/articles/white...with-china

Quote:The White House has barred Pentagon leaders from a key talking point when it comes to publicly describing the military challenges posed by China.

In February, Defense Secretary Ash Carter cited the "return to great power of competition" in the Asia-Pacific, "where China is rising."

Similarly, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson characterized China and Russia as rivals in this "great power competition" in his maritime strategy.

But a recent directive from the National Security Council ordered Pentagon leaders to strike out that phrase and find something less inflammatory, according to four officials familiar with the classified document, revealed here for the first time by Navy Times. Obama administration officials and some experts say "great power competition" inaccurately frames the U.S. and China as on a collision course, but other experts warn that China's ship building, man-made islands and expansive claims in the South and East China seas are hostile to U.S. interests. This needlessly muddies leaders' efforts to explain the tough measures needed to contain China's rise, these critics say.

“Their explanation is an exercise in nuance and complexity, purposely chosen by the administration to provide maximum flexibility, to prevent them from committing to a real structural approach to the most important national security challenge of our time,” said Bryan McGrath, a naval expert and retired destroyer skipper.

Quote:The Pentagon and the White House have grappled with how to engage with China while confronting their expansive military moves. Early this year, some Pentagon leaders urged tough responses to China's island building, which threatens allies like the Philippines. In March, the White House similarly dissuaded military leaders from airing differences over the Chinese moves in the South China Sea so as not to complicate a high-level meeting between the the U.S. and Chinese presidents.

The U.S. later adopted more muscular moves, like sending destroyers on close passes of China's fake islands and sending more ships, troops and aircraft to rotate through the Philippines — a neighbor at odds with China over its claims.

Quote:Rumors of the directive also rankled some on Capitol Hill. During a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., asked Carter and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford to comment.

“Gen. Dunford, are we in great power competition with China?” Cotton asked, to which Dunford replied: “We are, senator.”

When Cotton asked Carter, the secretary replied: “We are. Absolutely right."

Quote:The NSC's directive is unsettling for those who view China's military buildup as the key driver of the U.S.-China relationship — and a threat to the post-World War II world order.

“This kind of lawyerly nuancing is not what the American people need,” said McGrath, who leads the consulting firm The FerryBridge Group. “They don’t need nationalism or jingoism, they need a restatement of the role the U.S. plays in the proper function, security and prosperity of the world. To actually contend in great power competition, you have to identify for the American people what is the problem. The problem with this administrations’ insistence in avoiding terms that the American people understand is it lacks clarity.

"What this means is we will spend at least the next 90 days with an administration that’s just trying to tread water.”

"Do you like your coffee like Obama......weak?"

Politicizing the Pentagon?

(09-27-2016 02:39 PM)solohawks Wrote:  Politicizing the Pentagon?

Why not? This administration has already politicized the IRS and DOJ.

If the folks in the Philippines are feeling threatened by the Chinese, I'm sure President Trump wouldn't mind sending a carrier task force back to live at Subic Bay.

Nothing like burying one's head in the sand.

We aren't in competition with China over the South China Sea. The PLAN won that confrontation years ago while the CINC was busy trying to make the military more friendly to women and the LBGT community.

I can't wait to have a president that lives to compete.

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