The United States needs to get out of the Asia-Pacific region and China is right to extend its influence in its own region, according to a former Pentagon official.
Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the US Defense Department, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Sunday while commenting on a report which says the United States Navy is assessing the launch of a sensitive new operation sending warships through the Taiwan Strait amid heightened tensions with China.
Officials told Reuters on Saturday that US military forces were mulling the idea of sending warships through the Taiwan Strait to guarantee free passage through the key waterway.
The source noted that the move could ratchet up already high tensions with China over trade and relations with self-governing Taiwan.
In July, a pair of the US Navy’s guided-missile destroyers passed through the Taiwan Strait.
Maloof said that “this is really…