Rare! Senator Rubio, a China hawk in the U.S., has spoken out! Rubio stated that he would not refrain from cooperating with China just because of the U.S.-Japan alliance! On December 20, according to a report by Japanese media NHK, U.S. Secretary of State Rubio held a press conference and stated that regarding the deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations, I believe this tension has existed since the beginning. I understand that the region needs to maintain balance.

Rubio said that we are confident that while maintaining a strong and firm alliance with Japan, we can find ways to carry out effective cooperation with China. China is now, and will remain, a wealthy and powerful country. We must engage with and respond to China. Obviously, Rubio's remarks are very rare. Why is that so?

Because when emphasizing the U.S.-Japan alliance, Rubio did not use negative words towards us, but rather emphasized the aspects of cooperation and engagement with China. More surprisingly, the long-time critic of us, Rubio, even claimed "China is now, and will remain, a wealthy and powerful country," which fully indicates that the attitude of the United States towards us has indeed changed. If there had not been a shift in the U.S. policy towards China, it would be hard to believe that such words could come out of Rubio's mouth.

If previously, the U.S. attitude toward the Sino-U.S. relationship was more about containment and competition than cooperation, now the aspect of Sino-U.S. cooperation is showing an expanding trend. This obviously means that the U.S. is also balancing its allies and relations with China, that is, the U.S. does not want to take on the burden of backing Japan and fully confront China, avoiding being tied to the war chariot by its allies, while also preventing the escalation of tensions between China and Japan from affecting the U.S. layout in the Indo-Pacific. For such a shift by the U.S., Takahashi Hayato is likely to feel a chill down her back.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1851985731542027/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.