Dealing with Beijing's Influence

Earlier this week, we did something in the South China Sea that has become so commonplace that it's not even really making headlines anymore. We sailed two destroyers past some of the militarized islands in the South China Sea and Strait of Taiwan. We do this regularly, and it regularly pisses China off.At this point, since we know there is a symbiotic trade relationship between the two countries and that an all-out shooting war would not be the greatest of outcomes for the world or either respective country no matter who wins, we've got to wonder if the Commander of USPACOM (United States Indo-Pacific Command) and his operations officers just get bored and f*** with China for fun?We know it sounds ridiculous, but China so far has just warned us, never firing a shot, and we've not fired a shot. It's got to be the biggest and potentially most deadly game of Chicken that we've seen in recent years. If there is not a standing order for "Never Gonna Give You Up" to be played via loudspeaker anytime a Chinese ship or aircraft swings by to investigate or tell us to leave the South China Sea, we're going to be extremely disappointed.The only real notable difference is that this time we sent two, we've sent two before, but we usually just send one ship through. Sending two ships through is kind of escalating the game a little bit. They might be thinking..."If we can get away with two, then why not three, and if three then why not a Carrier Battle Group for thee?!"Obviously, China is mad. Talking about how we're threatening peace and stability in the region despite the fact that they've been the one's building and militarizing islands and reefs in what we think is a long game attempt to have solid staging grounds for an assault on Taiwan. They really can't let Taiwan go. Could they be more Gendry to Arya in this scenario? We think not.