So what are U.S. military goals in a conflict with China? Any conflict with China would be long and bloody

A Sino-American proxy war?

by Dan Blumenthal

A public debate about a U.S. military strategy for China is most welcome. While the debate's particulars are important, it is equally significant that the U.S. national security community is now openly discussing ways to deter Chinese aggression and defeat it should deterrence fail.

This was hardly the case just a decade ago. Most in the U.S. national security elite were dismissive of China's military capabilities and believed that even talking about possibilities of conflict with China was provocative. Not only was this line of argument misguided -- taking seriously the possibility of conflict with China should lead to more robust deterrence and reassurance -- but it also wished away the fact that the Chinese security elite had been thinking about war with the United States for a long time.

If Washington is now more or less settled on a policy of engaging China while balancing its power and hedging against greater aggression, it is incumbent upon national security leaders to think as much about the balance and hedge part of the equation as they do the engage side. 

In an attempt to fill this gap, the Defense Department has developed a new concept, Air-Sea Battle (ASB). While much of ASB is classified, enough has been said to piece together its various moving parts.

The operational concept requires that the U.S. military position itself to: 

1) operate in an environment in which Chinese cyber-, anti-satellite, and electronic forces are seeking to degrade the C4ISR network upon which U.S. military effectiveness has become so reliant; 

2) create better synergies between naval and air forces so they can effectively combat "anti-access" forces; and 

3) hit targets on China's mainland to end Chinese salvos against U.S. allies and interests.

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