By Jeff Seldin ~ VOA News*
Top U.S. officials are warning that countries around the world can no longer hide from the ramifications of an ever more ambitious and aggressive China.
And they say Beijing is growing ever more comfortable flexing its military might farther away from home.
“We have a taste of what it means to be led by China or to be deeply influenced by China,” Navy Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, the director for intelligence for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told a virtual conference Tuesday.
“You’re going to find a very global, expeditionary Chinese military that will be there to step in anywhere they think China’s interests are jeopardized,” he said. “Anywhere globally, China feels like its development interests are threatened, what you’ll find is that they will end up sending out the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] more and more often.”
Studeman is not the first U.S. military official to warn about the threat from China.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has repeatedly called China the “pacing threat” for the Pentagon. U.S. Central Command officials have likewise warned about how China is increasingly trying to wield influence in the Middle East. And U.S. Southern Command has raised concerns about Chinese activity in Central and South America.
Even U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to rally global support to push back against Beijing.
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