Trump Call for Chinese Warships Hits Sensitive Topic for Xi

US President Donald Trump’s demand for China to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz will almost certainly be rejected out of hand. But it unwittingly touches a sensitive debate simmering among foreign policy thinkers in Beijing: Should President Xi Jinping start using his military to shape geopolitical outcomes?

China hasn’t fought a major war in nearly half a century, and there’s no sign it’ll get involved in an operation so risky that even US allies are staying away. Chinese state media dismissed his demands as an attempt to spread the risk “of a war that Washington started and can’t finish,” while Trump has requested a delay to his summit with Xi to give him time to deal with Iran.