Paranoia-driven US politicians' hotheaded China rhetoric risks derailing ties with Beijing

The call Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley made in an interview to "lower the rhetoric" on China in the United States was a rare appeal to reason in Washington.

However, those viewing it as palliative care for bilateral relations should not ignore Milley's urging that the US send arms to Taiwan as quickly as possible to beat Beijing to any punch.

Fed up with war-with-China-is-imminent fever infecting lawmakers in the country, to whom Milley must have answered loads of China-related questions that must seem childish to a senior defense professional such as him, what he was advocating was just the rationalizing of the US' defense policy to make it more effective when it comes to applying pressure to China's "soft spots", rather than any easing of the Joe Biden administration's China policy.