Foreign Podicy

Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) and Senator Roger Wicker (R-MI) are the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee. On January 11, they issued a noteworthy joint statement after receiving a briefing from Admiral John Aquilino, the commander of all U.S. military forces in the Indo-Pacific. The briefing’s topic? The threat from China and how we should respond. The two senators called Admiral Aquilino’s briefing “sobering” and said “Failure to maintain deterrence against China… would be catastrophic for American national and economic security.” They said tackling the challenges must be a top priority for the committee and called for a number of urgent steps.While many of us have been focused on the aftermath of the deplorable October 7 terror attack on Israel and growing instability and war in the Middle East, things have still been happening in the Indo-Pacific. So, what has China been up to? What has the U.S. military been doing to bolster deterrence? What additional steps must