Commentary The recent revelation that U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley telephoned and reassured his Chinese counterpart of no U.S. attack during and after the 2020 U.S. presidential election has raised critical questions about how both countries consider execute security policies. For example, how and why would China’s leaders come to have such a fear? There were no extraordinary tensions or disputes between the two countries at the time. Certainly, Washington officials knew that China had formidable defense capacities that potentially could destroy much of America. No one of any significance in the United States was proposing or calling for war with China. Indeed, the United States had purposely delayed carrying out previously scheduled maneuvers specifically to avoid tensions and suspicions during the election campaign period. Virtually all Americans would have been surprised to know that China was fearful of a U.S. attack at the time. Moreover, …