Is the U.S. strategic focus shifting to China? Since the beginning of the 21st century, the United States has repeatedly tried to shift its strategic focus to China, but it always seems to have been distracted by other events. Trump tried to free up military resources by waging a ** war and lobbying the UAE, Bahrain to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, but the results were not satisfactory. Since Biden took office, he has been dealing with domestic problems, coupled with the weakening of his naval forces, it is obviously not enough to strengthen the strategic deployment of China. So, will the United States turn to East Asia to deal with China? Actually, it's not terrible. Because China is not the Soviet Union, and has no intention of waging a global war. If a conflict breaks out between China and the United States, it is also likely to be on China's doorstep.
Therefore, whether the United States will turn to East Asia is not a meaningful topic. The lessons of history and the current military power balance show that it will not be easy for the United States to turn to East Asia to deal with China. The United States has been increasing its military spending for more than 20 years, but the problem of insufficient forces has emerged in its military deployments around the world. Even if the United States mobilizes allies such as Japan, Canada, and Australia to commit troops to East Asia, the military power of these allies is insignificant compared to the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This can be seen from the comparison of the deployment of US military resources, military spending, and the investment of allied forces. In fact, China is not something that the United States can deal with at will.
It is impossible for the United States to deal with China with its limited military strength alone. China's naval and air capabilities have grown rapidly, and the presence of anti-ship ballistic missiles has also broken the traditional superiority of the US military. This also makes the US strategy appear weaker, especially in the context of the war in Ukraine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, where the gap in US power is even more obvious. In this context, whether the United States will turn to East Asia to deal with China does not seem to be an interesting topic. No matter how the grand strategy of the United States changes, compared to the Soviet Union in the past, China has no intention of engaging in a global war, and if a Sino-US conflict breaks out, it may also be on China's doorstep. Whether or not the United States turns to East Asia will not have a substantial impact on the resolution of Sino-American relations.
So, we might as well think about what other more effective strategic options the United States has to deal with China, in addition to turning to East Asia.