Chinese military action plausible as its leaders feel backed into a corner

China’s anger at taking international blame for the coronavirus pandemic has raised the likelihood that Beijing will order a rare assault against a smaller neighbor, U.S. observers worry.

“They're doing things they haven't done before,” Sen. Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican who chairs the Foreign Relations subcommittee for East Asia and the Pacific, told the Washington Examiner.

Any confrontation involving Chinese communist military forces and neighboring states would make a very rare break with precedent, as Beijing has avoided significant conflict for more than three decades. Yet Chinese diplomats have launched an unusual disinformation campaign to deny responsibility for the pandemic, while U.S. officials have accused China already of “exploiting the distraction” of the public health crisis to consolidate control of vital shipping lanes.

Read the full article and more in The Washington Examiner.