Trumps Greenland push is about growing China threat and the media is missing the message

It’s about China, stupid.President-elect Trump’s answer to an ‘I gotcha’ question is capturing all of the headlines – his refusal to rule out military force in the Panama Canal – but many in the media are missing its intended messaging.Trump and his incoming national security team are putting Chinese President Xi Jinping on notice.They are essentially telling him and the rest of the world – we see what Beijing is aiming to economically and militarily achieve in the Western hemisphere.Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal and even the Drake Passage at the End of the World are all interconnected.

China is their common denominator.This isn’t about U.S.military conquests of old.

Rather, it is solely about telling Xi “hands off!” It is the 21st century version of the Monroe Doctrine – and it is coming at a time when China is increasingly asserting itself on the global stage.Beijing is working to strangle economically and militarily U.S.maritime and naval sea routes by controlling key choke points and naval transit routes. Trump’s second term was always going to be more China centric.

Xi’s rapidly expanding People’s Liberation Army will be a principal driving factor when his administration rewrites the National Security Strategy as mandated by the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.As is his custom, Trump is arguing the case against Beijing in largely economic terms.However, the impetus for his argument is primarily driven by China and its dual track approach to building a global military projection force.The key word is “dual.” China’s $1 trillion and growing Belt and Road Initiative is economic in construct.

However, it is also an alarming modern-day Trojan Horse that is building the infrastructure that will house an increasingly potent global Chinese military presence.We have seen evidence of this in play.China’s economic investment in Africa led to the opening in 2018 of its first ove...