Despite its absurdity, the picture is being painted that China might attack Guam. Some have even warned that Guam might be subject to a surprise attack like Pearl Harbor.
Reinforcing this impression, US Navy Vice-Admiral Jon Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency of the US Department of Defense, told the media in a recent interview that along with countering the threat posed by hypersonic missiles, the defense of Guam is on his list of priorities, and relevant plans have already been included in the US president's 2023 budget submittal.
The fabrication is being employed by various sources for different purposes. Aside from the US military, which is the immediate beneficiary as the ongoing defense system upgrading in Guam indicates, the Pentagon can secure budgets, US arms dealers can win contracts, and US think tanks, with the Hudson Institute as a case in point, can steal the spotlight.
At the same time Tokyo is using it to justify its military buildup, and the Democratic Progressive Party secessionists in Taipei are hyping it up to bind Washington closer to their agenda.
The upgrading of Guam's defense system is just part of the United States' increasing militarization of the Asia-Pacific region which is a growing risk to the region's peace and stability.
China does not seek conflict with the US. The common interests of the two countries far outweigh their divergences, and there are no contradictions between the two sides that cannot be managed.
Washington should stop turning an otherwise reliable partner into a rival, and stop regarding Guam as the new front for targeting China just because the First Island Chain has been broken by China without a battle.
China has never coveted illegal interests outside the scope of international law or the postwar international order and therefore has no need to hatch any wild plans such as an attack on Guam. Instead, it has always been and remains a major stabilizing factor in the region and beyond, promoting common development and calling for settling disputes through negotiations.
The real snakes in the grass are the secession-minded Tsai Ing-wen administration of the Taiwan island and the ultra-rightist militarist politicians in Tokyo, as both parties are trying to manipulate Washington's "Indo-Pacific strategy" for their own ends.
It is Washington's blinkered fixation on containing China that has emboldened the two parties to stage a duet in the region playing on the US' fears of the awakening giant in pursuit of their respective causes. Washington should be wary lest they become the rabid tail that wags the dog.