In refreshing its competition strategy against China, the U.S. has revealed changed tactics since the Cold War era, embracing an “integrated campaign” that makes use of cooperation, competition below armed conflict, and armed conflict.

The U.S. means only to distract and sabotage the recent favorable conditions in the SCS region. China and the Philippines should remain focused on their current progress toward maritime cooperation, not allow the U.S.’s strategy of public opinion warfare to win out.

The most recent white paper released by the Chinese government signals its explicit intentions to build up the PLA transparently and install it as a force for global peace-keeping, not military hegemony.

The recent US cyber-attack on Iran, in retaliation for the downing of its drone, raises new questions for the militarization of cyberspace: what are the norms governing cyber war? What are the implications for international cooperation on the global Internet? How can governments stop cyber-attacks from escalating in unpredictable ways? These matters greatly concern the US and China.

US withdrawal from the INF provokes anxiety in Europe and Asia and threatens to unleash a renewed global arms race. But all is not lost — there are still opportunities to rebuild trust and salvage the treaty.

The US is stepping up its efforts to involve itself in the South China Sea by dispatching Coast Guard vessels and selling surveillance drones and other arms to Southeast Asian nations — involvement that only serves to destabilize the situation in these disputed waters.

The United States is taking a huge risk by assuming China’s recent rhetorical and military aggression directed at Taiwan is just more of the same diplomatic gamesmanship. It is time to take seriously the PRC’s intentions to regain unity with Taiwan through force.

Earlier this year, American officials acknowledged that US offensive cyber operations had stopped Russian disruption of the 2018 congressional election. Such operations are rarely discussed, but this time there was commentary about a new offensive doctrine of “persistent engagement” with potential adversaries. Will it work?

The Trump administration has begun applying military pressure on China, not only in traditional areas of friction such as the South China Sea and Taiwan, but using arms control. Recent American withdrawal from the US-Russia INF Treaty may be part of a strategy to draw China into a potential new nuclear agreement.

Maritime legal controversies in the South China Sea are not as bad as they are often characterized. However, divides are exacerbated by American unwillingness to accept international standards such as the UN Law of the Sea — and made worse by the Eurocentric bias of current international law, which has long ignored Asian cultures and traditions.