Sino File | These US-China military tussles are how next world war begins

There are increasing signs that escalating tensions in the US-China relationship are spilling over to military-to-military ties.

As US-China relations deteriorate rapidly on a number of critical fronts including trade, technology, human rights and geopolitics, a series of events has inflamed military-to-military ties and increased the risk of direct military conflict between the powers. This year alone, we have seen China disinvited from the 2018 Rim of the Pacific Exercise (Rimpac); the announcement of the sale of US$330 million worth of military equipment to Taiwan; repeated patrols by US bombers and warships through the disputed South China Sea and Taiwan Strait; a near-collision between two warships in the South China Sea; and the Trump administration’s decision to sanction the Chinese military for buying Russian fighter planes and missiles.

In response, Beijing has called off several high-level military-to-military meetings; cancelled talks with Secretary of Defence James Mattis in Beijing and a planned visit to the Pentagon by the head of the Chinese navy; denied a request for a US Navy ship to visit Hong Kong; and carried out live-fire drills in the South China Sea involving fighter jets and bombers.

Although Mattis and Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe met on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Singapore this month, their talks failed to produce any new agreements.