JBLM key to US-China ‘frenemy’ relationship

The last few months have offered a remarkable display of bonhomie and bilateral relations between the people of Tacoma and the People’s Republic of China.

President Xi Jinping visited Lincoln High School and brought an Abes football jersey back to Beijing. Chinese investors are pledging millions to build a downtown hotel high-rise project and a Tideflats methanol plant. And Joint Base Lewis-McChord welcomed 80 Chinese Army troops for a week-long joint training.

If Tacoma is a microcosm of how the U.S.’s relationship with China is changing, one might conclude that the two countries are striving to become BFFs.

But let’s not get carried away into delusions that Communist China, with its poor record on human rights, intellectual piracy and other thorny issues, will soon (if ever) be our Best Friend Forever.

Our best hope is that China gradually climbs America’s list of Best Frenemies.

President Obama met with Xi in Paris this week on the eve of the global climate talks. The two reportedly plumbed their mutual interests on topics such as pollution and terrorism.

“There is far more that the United States and China have in common than separates us,” Obama said.

But this is the same administration that coined the term “Pacific pivot” four years ago to describe the need for the U.S. military to step up its vigilance in East Asia.

Our country’s increasingly complicated relationship with China has been documented by News Tribune military reporter Adam Ashton in a series of articles based on three weeks he spent in Asia.

On the islands of Guam and Okinawa, Ashton found the “pivot” in full swing.

There, the Defense Department is inserting new troops and weapons to support its traditional allies. The U.S. military, primarily the Navy and Marines, is helping establish a counterbalance against attempts by China to throw its weight around in the disputed waters of the South and East China seas.

China has grown more bold, fortifying once-small atolls in waters where Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and other countries have claims.

The U.S., of course, must take care not to pivot so wildly that it loses its bearings.

It can’t spend billions expanding naval forces in the Pacific at the expense of land and air forces that could be needed for more immediate threats in the Middle East and North Africa. And it must be sensitive to Guam and Okinawa natives weary of an American footprint dating to the postwar occupation of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

JBLM and its surrounding communities have a large stake in the “pivot” because the base is the largest with proximity to the Far East.

That means JBLM will continue conducting dress rehearsals with armies in Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, helping its soldiers learn to fight in different settings. But it also means sharing intelligence with the Chinese, as it did in November, in non-adversarial arenas such as disaster planning.

In the Pacific, JBLM must prepare to be the tip of the spear, even as it extends a hand of friendship.

That’s what frenemies do.

This story was originally published November 30, 2015 at 10:34 AM with the headline "JBLM key to US-China ‘frenemy’ relationship."