Pacific braces for conflict, eyes uncertain US position

On his first tour of Asia late last month, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told civic members on the Pacific territory of Guam they were not just the “tip of the spear” of efforts to deter a big war with China, but also literally “living in history”.

- Peter Apps

Events since then appear to have proved him right.

Last Saturday, as he addressed a mixed American and Japanese audience announcing the creation of a new joint “war-fighting headquarters,” Mr Hegseth resurrected his audience: “America does not run across anyone alone.”

“America is committed to sustaining robust, ready and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait,” Mr Hegseth said.

Three days later, China mobilised a fleet of warships to conduct war games all around Taiwan, accompanied by some of Beijing’s most bellicose rhetoric so far.

Ships included China’s first indigenously built aircraft carrier, the Shandong, cruising between Taiwan and Japan’s outermost islands.

The limits of US resources, however, are readily apparent — while relations between Washington and many of its key allies have been further complicated by the range of tariffs imposed on them this week by President Donald Trump.

As China sent one of its carriers towards Taiwan, the US Naval Institute noted that there was not a single US aircraft carrier in the Pacific at the time.

The two battle groups that might nor-mally have been there — those of the Harry S Truman and the George Washington — were instead in the Middle East, supporting US operations against Islamic State militants.

While much of the media attention in recent weeks has been focused on the Trump administration’s war of words with Europe, China has spent the last month engaged in a hefty, wide-scope campaign of messaging pushing the idea that Washington is abandoning all its allies and opening the door for greater Chinese dominance abroad.

Mr Hegseth’s visit appeared intended to deliver reassurance, at least to the Philippines and Japan, the nations that would be most important for the US in any battle over Taiwan.