Well, at least the press would like you to think that. Last night, President Obama dispatched heavily armed destroyers to the South China Sea in response to a group of Chinese ships confronting a USN vessel. President Obama met with Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, who refused to acknowledge any wrong doing by the Chinese….

In January, following the inauguration of President Obama, China published a White Paper (“China’s National Defense in 2008”) on the modernization of the country’s national defense and armed forces. The paper was widely ignored in the western press; however, Japan and Taiwan both took notice. China used the paper to announce its intention of increasing its Navy’s capabilities. An invigorated Chinese Navy would allow the country to exert their growing political power abroad.

China decided to exercise their growing naval power much earlier than expected. Yesterday, the Pentagon announced that the …