Eyck Freymann

but that we're also showing restraint and we're not going to push a precarious situation into a war unnecessarily.

And that's a delicate art, and it requires you to think pretty systematically about his options and make sure that we have a way to close each of those off.

The first thing to say is that the U.S.

enjoys tremendous advantages.

And these advantages are more qualitative than quantitative.

U.S.

forces have experience in combat.

The personnel, like the officers in question, have experience in combat.

that China's officer corps doesn't have.

China's last experience fighting a foreign war was 1979 in Vietnam, and it didn't go particularly well.

And they've never fought a naval war.

The US does these multi-domain combined arms operations all the time.

The US also has these qualitative advantages in space, in some cyber capabilities.

A lot of that is secret.

Its special forces are believed to be the best in the world.

Its submarines are the best in the world.

And its counter-submarine warfare is the best in the world.

So, yes, China has more ships.

The U.S.

Navy is larger by tonnage, but obviously China's Navy is right there.