Please check out my post at #43. China’s expansion has been financed by us thru our lopsided trade deals. Take away that advantage and you take away China’s ability to fund these structures that support their military expansion. So the answer is an economic, not military one, which I believe is preferable, as would Japan, Taiwan, and other actors in the region, one would assume.
While it is true, the current trade structure with China has enabled them in many ways and to some degree there is certainly an economic application. But the more immediate issue is a military one, so on the contrary, there most assuredly IS a military component to the response (military aid to the other affected countries in the region). And I maintain Trump has no understanding in that arena.
As for trade, it's one thing to strut around and make statement after statement about "getting tough" with the Chinese, but I'm sure even Trump himself knows the ramifications of risking a trade war with them.
You're giving Trump wayyy too much credit for answering a question he failed to adequately address.
>> China’s expansion has been financed by us thru our lopsided trade deals <<
Not really. For example, China developed the H-Bomb during the 1960’s, at a time when it was illegal for US citizens and companies to trade with China.
That development and others demonstrate clearly that the Chinese don’t need “trade deals” (whatever that term might encompass) to have a strong military and to intervene in the South China Sea.