[Generated Title]: Is Trump's "G-2" China Lovefest Just a Smokescreen for Naval Armageddon?
So, Trump's back, and suddenly it's all "G-2 this" and "G-2 that." Give me a break. Last time he was in office, it was all tariffs and trade wars. Now, he's buddy-buddy with Xi? I don't buy it for a second. What's the catch?
The "Partnership" That Isn't
This whole "G-2" thing is just… naive. C. Fred Bergsten can call it a vital partnership all he wants, saying it's crucial for global economic recovery and climate change action. Okay, boomer. We're talking about China here. Since 2013, Xi Jinping has been flexing military muscles in the Indo-Pacific. Trump himself labeled China a strategic threat back in 2017!
And now, suddenly, they're equals?
It's like believing a pyromaniac who promises to be your fire safety advisor.
The article says some foreign policy experts like Zbigniew Brzezinski and Niall Ferguson were on board with the "G-2" idea way back when. Well, guess what? They ain't around to see how that's working out.
While We're Distracted, China's Building a Navy
While Trump's out there playing diplomat, the real action is happening on the high seas. The US and China are testing each other's limits, and it ain't a game of patty-cake. The USS Higgins got "expelled" from waters near Scarborough Shoal, according to Beijing. Washington says it was a perfectly legal freedom-of-navigation operation. High stakes on the high seas as US, China test limits of military power
Who are we kidding? This is about control. Sea lanes, power projection, alliances... It's a chess game with aircraft carriers and submarines.
Brent Sadler, a retired Navy submariner, says there's no clear winner. But let's be real, China's been building ships like crazy. They've got 200 times the shipbuilding output of the US. 200 TIMES! Offcourse, the Pentagon says the US Navy is "smaller but heavier" with greater tonnage and strike power. Yeah, but for how long?
They're probing with the bayonet, testing our resolve, Sadler says. "Bloodying a treaty ally like the Philippines is their way of testing American resolve."
The Silent War Under the Sea
And then there's the submarine game. China's closing the gap, folks. They're building quieter, longer-ranged subs. The Pentagon warns they could have nearly 80 submarines by the early 2030s.
Meanwhile, the US Navy is struggling to build Virginia-class subs fast enough. Just one or two a year, they say. What the hell?
"Submarines are critical," says Mark Cancian at CSIS. "They can go inside the Chinese defenses, and in war games their great usefulness was attacking Chinese amphibious ships during an invasion."
But what if China's subs are already there, waiting?
And it's not just about subs and torpedoes. It's about information. 95% of global internet traffic flows through undersea cables. Are we really protecting those? Is anyone even thinking about that?
I gotta vent for a second. My internet provider has been throttling my connection for weeks. I pay for 1 gigabit, I get 50 megabits on a good day. Is this what we're defending with our fancy submarines? The right to stream cat videos in 4K?
Rare Earths and Empty Promises
Oh, and don't even get me started on rare earths. China's supposed to ease export restrictions, but there's already a disagreement over the details. Washington says past controls will be eliminated. Beijing hasn't said anything about that.
Surprise, surprise.
So, What's the Real Play Here?
Trump's "G-2" lovefest is either a sign of him going soft, or a way to lull China into a false sense of security while the US quietly prepares for a showdown. Either way, I ain't holding my breath. The only thing certain is that someone's getting played.