This is CBS I on the World with John Bachelor.

Here's John Bachelor.

My colleague and friend Gordon Chang Chang, at Gordon G Chang.

There's trouble in East Asia.

We welcome Steve Yates, chair of the America First Policy Institute's China Policy Initiative.

The Guardian headline outlines the threat.

Taiwan demands China returns fishing boats seized by Coast Guard subhead. Maritime authorities say they called

off pursuit of commandeered vessel to avoid inflaming conflict. Steve a very

good day to you this is the Chinese so-called Coast Guard being belligerent and provocative

purposely. At the same time, we have a report from the Financial Times that there was a meeting between officials from China and

officials from the Philippines to de-escalate the conflict that we saw last week with a ramming or crashing

intimidation with axes during the resupply effort by the Philippines to their craft the Sierra Madre in order to maintain

their exclusive economic zone off of Palawang Island. This is the South China Sea.

But now we have a fishing boat commandeered. Where's this going, Steve?

Good evening to you.

Well, good evening, John. Well, it's a continuation of testing of limits. I think with the strategic purpose of trying to expose

a possible lack of commitment by the United States to honor obligations to try to isolate those that are the targets of this in a

way that puts political pressure on them to accommodate. I think that the

escalation with the Philippines is very much motivated with an eye toward

a Taiwan contingency, not just something that is China versus the Philippines States the United States.

And the explicit purpose is to try to show that the United States is not a reliable alliance partner.

And if it's not a reliable alliance partner, then it would be even less reliable

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