Tweet
China warns US of confrontation over S. China Sea
BEIJING China’s military warned the United States on Saturday that US-Philippine military exercises have raised risks of armed confrontation over the disputed South China Sea in the toughest high-level warning yet after weeks of tensions.
China’s official Liberation Army Daily warned that recent jostling with the Philippines over disputed seas where both countries have sent ships could boil over into outright conflict, and laid much of the blame at Washington’s door.
In another development, Chinese authorities have released 21 Vietnamese fishermen who were detained seven weeks ago near disputed islands in the South China Sea, drawing strong protests from Hanoi.
The Vietnamese nationals — accused by China of illegal fishing — were released on Friday “after they signed a written guarantee,” the South China Sea Fishery Bureau said in a statement.
The official Xinhua news agency said the guarantee was a pledge “not to infringe on China’s maritime rights, especially fishing, in its territorial waters.”
This week American and Filipino troops launched a fortnight of annual naval drills amid the stand-off between Beijing and Manila, who have accused each other of encroaching on sovereign seas near the Scarborough Shoal, west of a former US navy base at Subic Bay.
The joint exercises are held in different seas around the Philippines; the leg that takes place in the South China Sea area starts on Monday.
“Anyone with clear eyes saw long ago that behind these drills is reflected a mentality that will lead the South China Sea issue down a fork in the road towards military confrontation and resolution through armed force,” said the commentary in the Chinese paper, which is the chief mouthpiece of the People’s Liberation Army.
“Through this kind of meddling and intervention, the US will only stir up the entire South China Sea situation towards increasing chaos, and this will inevitably have a massive impact on regional peace and stability.”
Major General Luo Yuan, a retired PLA researcher well-known for his hawkish views, amplified the warnings from Beijing issued through state media.
“China has already shown enough restraint and patience over this incident,” Luo said of the friction with Manila, according to an interview published on Chinese state television’s website (http://news.cntv.cn).
If the Philippines “takes irrational actions, then the current confrontation could intensify, and the Chinese navy will certainly not stand idly by,” he added.
“The US intention of trying to draw more countries into stirring up the situation in the South China Sea is being brandished to the full,” said the newspaper.