China and the United States are preparing for war

Despite the Obama-Xi handshake deal, the probability of confrontation will only heighten as long as the PLA remains a black box

Obama, Xi
(Image credit: (Feng Li/Getty Images))

At a Nov. 12 news conference in Beijing, General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to notify the other side before major military activities, and to develop a set of rules of behavior for sea and air encounters, in order to avoid military confrontations in Asia. "It's incredibly important that we avoid inadvertent escalation," Ben Rhodes, a U.S. deputy national security advisor, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying. An "accidental circumstance," he said, could "lead into something that could precipitate conflict."

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