The Chinese Defense Ministry wants closer ties with the US military.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Friday that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) wants closer relations with the US military, then blamed the US for taking “provocative” actions that make such a close relationship difficult.
Wu said China wants to be friends, but Washington insists on such aggressive policies as supporting Taiwan, challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and monitoring Chinese military movements.
“As we have said many times, China has principles for the development of relations between the two armies, which is that China’s sovereignty, dignity and fundamental interests cannot be violated,” Wu said.
“On the Taiwan issue, in particular, China has no room for compromise and the United States should have no illusions,” he added.
Wu objected to US officials describing China as a “strategic threat”, accusing them of “paranoia” and “persecution.”
“People who are addicts and pursue hegemony always feel that others are coveting their hegemony,” he said sarcastically. “Its purpose is simply to find excuses for its own quest for absolute superiority in the military field and the maintenance of global hegemony.”
In truth, China is the party increasing tensions across the Pacific, everywhere from the skies of Taiwan, which have been full with a large number of Chinese fighter jets lately, to the Philippines, which is to resist Aggressive Chinese attempts to seize disputed sandbars by force.
Philippine Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday rejected China’s demands that Philippine forces remove their unusual outpost of the disputed Second Thomas Shoal as “unfounded.”
Lorenzana said China is the “intruder” in the shoal, which has been blocked by Chinese coast guard ships in recent days. Philippine vessels were unable to resupply the small contingent of troops based on the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty ship deliberately aground in 1999 so that the Philippine army could use it as an observation post.
“Ayungin Shoal is within our EEZ, where we have sovereign rights. Our EEZ was granted to us by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which China ratified. China must meet its international obligations, ”Lorenzana said, using the preferred name of the Philippines for the milestone.
US Department of State said last week the United States “supports our ally, the Philippines, in the face of this escalation that directly threatens regional peace and stability.”
The State Department said China’s blockade of the Second Thomas Shoal “increases regional tensions, violates freedom of navigation in the South China Sea guaranteed by international law, and undermines the rules-based international order.”
The State Department said the United States would respond to any “armed attack on Philippine public vessels” under the relevant defense treaties.
Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton also denounced China’s “alarming” actions on Friday, pointing to its harassment of Taiwan and the relentless militarization of the South China Sea.
“We are all familiar with the frequent assertions of the Chinese government that it is committed to peace, cooperation, and development. And yet we are witnessing a significant disconnect between words and actions. We have watched very closely how the Chinese government has engaged in increasingly alarming activities, “he said.
The Australian government on Thursday take note of Chinese surveillance vessels operating near the Australian coast in July and August, passing through its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that, in contrast to China’s incessant complaints On the United States Navy’s Freedom of Navigation (FONOP) operations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, Australia was willing to acknowledge that Chinese ships took illegal actions.
“It means Australia has to be on guard and Australia has to stand up to those who want to coerce us … and impose trade sanctions on things like our wine, and our government is dealing with that,” Morrison said, alluding to Chinese punitive sanctions against Australian products.