Is Intelligence Head of Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Studeman Considering Preventive War To Stop China?

July 11, 2021 (EIRNS)—Comments made by Rear Adm. Michael Studeman, director of intelligence for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, on July 7 seem to draw that conclusion. According to Washington Times anti-China rabble-rouser Bill Gertz, writing in a July 9 column, Studeman had the following comments to make at a July 7 event of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA): “What we are warning about: It’s danger on all fronts. This idea that it’s only a Taiwan scenario vs. many other areas where the Chinese are being highly assertive, coercive, is a failure in understanding complexity, because it’s not that simple.” Studeman said it would be a mistake to wait for signals that China was about to invade Taiwan. “That is one scenario, and, frankly, it may not be the most likely,” he said. China’s Communist regime is placing pressure on “lots of its neighbors,” implying that China may be preparing to attack other Asian nations, he said, displaying how his view shows a total lack of understanding of China by one of the most important U.S. military officials responsible for explaining China’s actions and motives.

In fact, even in regard to Taiwan, China has shown great patience by dealing with this issue diplomatically. And it is only in the last few years with the initiation of a more assertive policy to contain China that Taiwan pro-independence forces have felt they have a better shot at moving toward their goal. The visit of Studeman himself on Nov. 22, 2020, as the first U.S. military official to visit the island, was simply a part of that more provocative stance by the U.S. “playing the Taiwan card.” Much of China’s proactive diplomacy in the region has been a reaction against a Western policy of containment. Studeman also draws a picture of China “taking over” the countries of East Asia, comparing such a regime to the caricature that has been created regarding China’s “control” in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.