Already fuming at the US for having asked them to cancel annual military talks, which were supposed to be later this month, China is reacting angrily to reports that the US is planning a “global show of force” targeted at China in November.
Chinese state media warned that countermeasures would escalate if this show of force took place, and warned that the US military needs to exercise restraint instead of preparing major provocations against China.
The reports suggested that the US was going to ramp up military activities in November, in both the South China Sea and the area around Taiwan. This would involve the substantial deployment of US combat aircraft, as well as ground troops.
The Pentagon has been keen to pick fights with China in the South China Sea in recent years, mostly centering on sending warships and warplanes past artificial islands to show that the US doesn’t recognize them as Chinese. Last week, this led to a Chinese destroyer intercepting a US warship and forcing it away from the Spratly islands chain.
Mounting tensions over that, and the ongoing trade war, could’ve been addressed at the security talks, if the US hadn’t insisted China cancel them at the last minute. Chinese foreign ministry officials were also upset by US claims that China had cancel the talks themselves, saying it was “irresponsible” to make such claims when China had only done so at the request of US officials.
Pentagon officials appeared to go out of their way to avoid this admission at the time, with Defense Secretary James Mattis downplaying the fact that his trip was canceled, but making no effort to correct the record, when media reports clearly suggested it was China’s doing.
Time to renew my US passport and get the heck out of here……!
mad, And to where???
Good question, maybe some remote tropical island. ; )
Scotland.
Totally unnecessary and expensive. Cui Bono? $
Zealots who think themselves superior and called upon to redesign the world. And at all the times minding the profits.
Bianca you and I often agree But who do you think are the evil zealots redesigning the world . NATO the UN and the NWO ot the nationalists like China , Russia and DJ Trump that claimed he was for America first .
These morons are pushing both Russia – with 7,000 nuclear warheads – and China – with at least 200 – into nuclear war. China can enforce its claim to those islands with no problem against US warships.
The US is being deliberately provocative against a state that can destroy US capability in the Pacific if it so chooses. The US needs to remember that Chinese sub that surfaced right in the middle, undetected, of a US carrier group.
The people who actually live in the area resent US actions to stir up animosity.
CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT OF THE 32ND ASEAN SUMMIT
SINGAPORE, 28 APRIL 2018
The 3 mile limit of coastal waters was safely outside the range of smooth bore coast defense artillery of the day. The later 12 mile limit was the outer range of modern coast defense artillery. Those “rules” gave coastal states what they could enforce but not more.
Now China like many coastal states is using coastal emplacement of antiship missiles, supersonic, very dangerous, with ranges over a hundred miles, emplaced in multiples that would be able to swamp most defenses.
So what now will be the limit of coastal waters? What now will be the definition of coastal land from which to measure? If it is the same as before, it would be all they have the real capacity to take, but not more.
Well, China can take this. They could sink any of those FONOPS any time they wanted.