“China, China, China” !

Patrick Shanahan, acting US defence secretary, started his first full day at the Pentagon on 2 January 2019 by stating “While we are focused on ongoing operations … remember China, China, China”! He told key Defence Department staff to focus on the National Defence Strategy, a broad review that highlights a new era of “Great Power competition” with Russia and China. The US accuses China of an ongoing pattern of military and economic espionage and has criticised China’s ambitious “Belt and Road” trade and infrastructure initiative as being a form of economic coercion.