This morning a shocking report came from the Wall Street Journal titled, “US troops have been deployed in Taiwan for the last year.” This news was suprising considering the policy the US has had since Nixon’s visit to China of a One-China policy which meant that the US only diplomatically recognizes the PRC as the one true China. The report said that on top of the billions of dollars in military equipment the US has been selling to Taiwan, the US is now also sending special forces to the island to train their local forces as a way to deter China in the case of if they do invade the island nation. The news will certainly make the PRC upset but in the grand scheme of things it shows a much larger growing pacific battle in this new-aged Cold War between China and the US. The US in recent years has been stregthening ties with Pacific allies like Australia, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, and until recently France. With the news the US is also selling and making nuclear-powered submarines for Australia, it is certain they are building a stronger alliance to stand up to the growing threat of China in the South China Sea and the Pacific as a whole. Just this past week China sent the most fighters and bombers ever at 150 in one week near Taiwan as a show of force and a sign China will be stepping up their moves to cut off the island from international support. Politically Taiwan is not recognized by most of the world but financially and militarily is another story. The at-large fears for many is that if Taiwan falls then China will use that as a staging ground to take claimed land in the East and South China Sea against countries like Malaysia, Japan, the Phillipines, Vietnam, and Brunei. This on top of their ever-growing land border control battle over fellow Asian superpower India and its small isolated neighbor Bhutan. It remains to be seen how this will turn out but it looks like the threat of war in the region is growing every year as China plans an expansionist foreign policy.