US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who has accused China of “intimidation and coercion” in the South China Sea, is visiting Beijing this week as the countries increasingly spar over US arms sales to Taiwan and Beijing’s expanding military presence overseas. Mattis will be the first defense secretary in President Donald Trump’s administration to visit China. His trip highlights the need for the US and its chief rival in East Asia to engage each other despite increasingly stark differences and mutual suspicion.

Mattis to visit Beijing as Taiwan, South China Sea tensions rise. (2018, June 25). Manila Bulletin, p. 4.