China adopted more coercive approach to Indo-Pacific: Top Pentagon official

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ Observing that China has demonstrated increased military competence and a willingness to take risks, a top Pentagon official said Beijing has adopted a more coercive and aggressive approach to the Indo-Pacific region.

Beijing has demonstrated increased military competence and a willingness to take risks, and it has adopted a more coercive and aggressive approach to the Indo-Pacific region, Dr Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense, said in her address to the National War College faculty and students on Friday.

In 2020 alone, Beijing escalated tensions over a host of issues with a number of its neighbours, including Australia, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, she said. It was involved in an armed confrontation with India along the Line of Actual Control which resulted in the loss of life on both sides and further tightened its grip on Hong Kong, including by instituting an oppressive national security law, Hicks added.