The assertion that China's military buildup puts at risk US' position as the predominant power in Asia is groundless, according to Michael D. Swaine, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in a commentary on the website of The National Interest on Sept 26, 2011.

It is fashinable these days for pundits to point out the supposedly disastrous consequences for the United States that will result from China's military modernization, notes Swaine, with the latest variant of this argument presented by Aaron Friedberg in The New York Times on September 4 and in his new book, A Contest for Supremacy: China, America and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia.

But there is little hard evidence to indicate that China's strategic intent is to establish itself, in Friedberg's words, as "Asia's dominant power by eroding the credibility of America's security guarantees, hollowing out its alliances, and eventually easing it out of the region."

Actually, China's strategic mindset, says Swaine, is "quintessentially defensive, largely reactive, and focused first and foremost on deterring Taiwan's independence and defending the Chinese mainland, not on establishing itself as Asia's next hegemony".

Instead of more tough talk and increased defense spending, concludes Swaine, the United States and its allies in Asia should "grasp the malleable nature of China's strategic intentions and shape a "mixed" regional approach focused more on creating incentives to cooperate than on neutralizing every possible Chinese military capability of concern to US defense analysts".