JAKARTA - US military commanders in the Pacific have built software to predict how the Chinese government will react to US actions in the region, such as sales of military equipment, US-backed military activity, and even congressional visits to vulnerable places like Taiwan.

US Undersecretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks was briefed on the new tool during a visit to United States Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii on Tuesday.

The tool calculates "strategic friction", a defense official was quoted as saying by Reuters. This tool looks at data from early 2020 and evaluates significant activities impacting US-China relations. The computer-based system will help the Pentagon predict whether certain actions will trigger an overly large Chinese reaction.

In October, China's military condemned the United States and Canada for each sending warships through the Taiwan Strait. China has said that the actions of the US and Canada have threatened peace and stability in the region.

US officials said that minor incidents and others like it have sparked requests for the alert analysis tool. This tool is said to be useful in ensuring the United States does not inadvertently disappoint China with its actions.

While relations between the United States and China are already at a low point, the tool provides visibility across activities such as congressional visits to Taiwan, arms sales to allies in the region, or when some US ships sailing through the Taiwan Strait may provoke. China's reaction was too big or unintentional.

China democratically claims Taiwan as its territory and has carried out repeated air force missions to Taiwan's air defense identification zone over the past year, sparking anger on the Taipei side.

The official said that the new software will allow US officials to look ahead to actions planned as far back as four months in advance.


The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)