Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s declaration to the Atlantic Council on Oct. 20 that “China and Russia probably have fewer than 10 allies combined…. America’s network of allies and partners provides us an asymmetric advantage our adversaries cannot match,” met confident derision from the editors of the China daily, Global Times. The U.S. may have 68 allies around the world, but they won’t all be jumping into the British-Esper-Pompeo anti-China coalition, they wrote yesterday. “Development is the core interest of all countries worldwide. How can the U.S. turn China, the world’s top trader, into the so-called common enemy of its allies? … U.S. allies may be forced to comply in public, but they will resist in private.” The editors pointed out that “even the U.S. is reluctant to give up the Chinese market.”