Scholar: US Escalates Rhetoric to Pressure China Ahead of Midterms & Beijing’s 20th Party Congress

The defense chiefs of the US, Australia and Japan held the Trilateral Defense Ministers’ Meeting (TDMM) in Hawaii on October 1. In it, they pledged to strengthen military cooperation, claiming that China and Russia are "trying to dismantle" the "rules-based, international order." What's behind this pattern of rhetorical escalation?