Vice Chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff Haydn: Our goal should be to never go to war with China

"Our goal should be to never go to war with China." On the 13th local time, John E. Hyten, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, emphasized the terrible consequences of the United States if it went to war with China and Russia in a dialogue with scholars.

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According to the website of the Brookings Institution, a well-known think tank in the United States, on September 13, the Brookings Institution invited Haydn to discuss the defense status of the United States and military modernization with Michael O'Hanlon, a senior researcher at the think tank. Among them, Haydn will step down later this year.

Ohan lun asked Haydn: From the perspective of assessing the so-called "military threat", do China and Russia also worry you, or do you mainly focus on China at this time?

When Haydn spoke of the U.S. defense strategy, referring to Russia and China as "pacing threats," the United States began discussing China "under more certain conditions."

He replied that the current administration leadership, including Biden and Defense Secretary Austin, has made it abundantly clear that China is a "step-by-step threat" that the United States must focus on, today, in the near term, and in the long term. But that doesn't mean they don't see the potential threat from Russia, which has a huge nuclear arsenal.

Ohan lun further asked how to assess the possibility of some form of war between China and the United States, and mentioned the "Thucydides Trap" proposed by Graham Allison, a well-known professor at Harvard University.

Haydn said we always had to worry about the Thucydides Trap, but the United States had already experienced the same thing as the Soviet Union, with the two great powers engaged in the most serious confrontation of the time, and it was the first time that two powers had large nuclear weapons at the same time. However, there was no large-scale war between the two sides throughout the process, "because we have always maintained deterrence and have not crossed the line".

He added: "So when it comes to things between the big powers, our goal should be to never go to war with China, never to go to war with Russia." Because it's going to be a terrible day for this planet and for our countries. It will destroy the world and the economy and be a disaster for all. So we have to make sure we don't get to this point. ”

He also acknowledged that we must recognize that China and Russia are very different competitors, that the economy is huge, and that allies and partners that the United States wants to develop also need to work with China.

In addition, Haydn stressed the importance of dialogue with China more than once: "Despite our differences, we do have a basic common goal, which is never to go to war with each other, because nuclear war is a bad thing." ”

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