The headline is misleading where the article is accurate.
Asian nations are arming up. Why? The headline says, "Caught between China and the U.S., Asian countries stockpile powerful new missiles"[.]
This seems to imply that countries are worried about both China and America. Two powers making their neighborhoods dangerous, eh? No difference.
But the analysis is better:
Asia is sliding into a dangerous arms race as smaller nations that once stayed on the sidelines build arsenals of advanced long-range missiles, following in the footsteps of powerhouses China and the United States, analysts say. ...
Other countries in the region are buying or developing their own new missiles, driven by security concerns over China and a desire to reduce their reliance on the United States.
There you go. Regional nations are worried about China building missiles.
And the regional nations are worried about America in a different sense. I think they perhaps worry that America is not building enough missiles. Or that America can't or won't come to their rescue. But those countries do not have security concerns about America.
Mind you, there is concern that hosting American missiles could drag them into a war with China against their will. America doesn't have enough territory to hold an arsenal capable of coping with Chinese forces. Those countries probably would join to resist Chinese aggression, but China might take the choice away from them to get at American forces.
If those regional allies of America have their own missiles, the choice of use is more likely to be with them. Although I doubt China would distinguish between American missiles and the missiles of American allies.
Note too that America is perfectly happy to have regional countries arm up because everyone knows that China is the country to worry about.
Oh, and the article states something that annoys me in its claim that there are "offensive" weapons and "defensive" weapons. Any weapon can be for the purpose of offense or defense. Trying to distinguish one as better than the other kind with this distinction is nonsense.
But I digress.
Still, the bottom line is that those countries aren't really "caught between" America and China. They are caught close to China and far from America.
