Global Times yesterday ran a commentary reporting that while China can restrain itself with respect to new U.S. provocations on politics, diplomacy, or economy, at least in the run-up to the November U.S. election, the same can‛t be said for military provocations. In that case, China will make immediate and effective retaliations. Experts said that whether the two major powers can avoid military conflict in the next three months depends on the White House, and that China needs to make its deterrence “more visible” to warn the U.S. about how dangerous a war could be.
Global Times report also makes a distinction between the views of President Donald Trump on China and those of his advisors, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor Robert O‛Brien. Recent statements of Pompeo and O‛Brien “do not just represent the Trump Administration, but also meet the demand of the `deep state’ in the U.S., and China must be aware of these dangerous signs,” said Jin Canrong, associate dean at Renmin University of China’s School of International Studies in Beijing. “Direct China-U.S. military conflicts, or even the severance of diplomatic ties, which used to be unimaginable, are being discussed more frequently by the mainstream media outlets and scholars, so the danger of military conflicts exists and is growing,” he said.
