New acting US defence chief Mark Esper ‘may be tougher on China’
- But Pentagon’s approach expected to remain largely unchanged with appointment
- Along with two decades of military service, Esper is a former chief of staff at conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation
China will have to deal with a more hawkish US defence secretary with the appointment of Mark Esper as acting Pentagon chief, but will be hoping military relations between the two powers will remain largely unchanged, analysts said.
Esper replaced Patrick Shanahan – who only took over from previous defence head James Mattis in January – on Wednesday. He attended West Point military academy with Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state and one of the Trump administration’s strongest hawks.
Esper has also revealed a long-term focus on China which predates the shift in US defence strategy to regard the rising power as a direct rival. In an interview in April, he said his views on China had been shaped by “various issues” as he watched its evolution over 20 years.
“We may be a little bit late – we are late – coming to the recognition that we are in a strategic competition with China,” he said.
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In addition to more than two decades of military service – which included key roles at the Pentagon and on the US Army Staff, the branch’s senior leadership body – Esper is a former chief of staff at conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, and a top lobbyist for arms maker Raytheon.
“The new nominee will probably do some eye-catching moves, as an army veteran might prefer to pose like a hawk,” Yue Gang, a retired People’s Liberation Army colonel, said, noting that Shanahan’s lack of military experience may have made it harder for him to get through the confirmation process.
The merry-go-round of US defence secretaries would be a headache for their Chinese counterpart, but there is a Chinese saying – meet change with constancy
But, apart from the different personal styles of the US defence chiefs, Yue said the Pentagon’s approach had remained “mature and adult”, as well as mostly predictable, which he expected would continue.
“The US national defence policy, including treating China and Russia as strategic competitors but also avoiding tensions getting out of control, will remain the same,” he said.
Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military commentator, said one result of the appointment was a return to the starting point in discussions between the US and China aimed at keeping tensions to manageable levels.
At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Shanahan and Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe discussed “ways to build military-to-military relations that reduce the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation”, according to the Pentagon.
“[Shanahan’s departure] means everything they agreed on at the Shangri-La Dialogue will go back to the start,” Zhou said.
“Now we need a creative defence minister to handle the US-Chinese relationship with some flexibility.”
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Yue said Shanahan’s departure had come as a surprise and US President Donald Trump had needed someone quickly to fill the vacancy.
“The merry-go-round of US defence secretaries would be a headache for their Chinese counterpart, but there is a Chinese saying – meet change with constancy,” Yue said.
