Chinese state media was critical of Washington’s new Asia-focused defense policy announced last week by president Barack Obama even as the government gave no official response, the Financial Times reported. Obama outlined a “smaller and leaner” military focused on threats from China and Iran. While Beijing has not issued an official response, People’s Daily Overseas and Global Times, both controlled by the government, gave critical commentaries of the new US policy. China’s state news agency Xinhua published a mixed editorial, calling on the US to “abstain from flexing its muscles,” but also saying the strategy could be good for China, “if fulfilled with a positive attitude and free from a Cold War-style zero-sum mentality.” However, official thinking remains unclear. “There is no indication that this planned shift in strategy is making anyone here more anxious or angry than other similar announcements in the past”, said Russell Leigh Moses, a Beijing-based political analyst.
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