2023-06-05 19:04:16
On Monday, the White House described Chinese military maneuvers that almost caused two collisions with US forces at sea and in the air, as “aggressive,” warning that they might lead to injuries.
“It won’t be long before someone gets hurt,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters, adding, “This is what we are concerned regarding with these unsafe and unprofessional interceptions.”
On Saturday, the US Department of Defense denounced that a Chinese ship had sailed in a “dangerous” zigzag around one of its destroyers that was sailing in the Taiwan Strait, forcing the US ship to change course to avoid a collision.
The incident came less than two weeks following Washington accused a Chinese fighter pilot of performing an “unjustified aggressive maneuver” near a US reconnaissance plane that was flying over the South China Sea on May 26.
Kirby said these practices “are an integral part of an increasing level of aggressiveness” by the Chinese military.
The Chinese Defense Minister defended the interception of a Chinese battleship, the path of an American destroyer carrying guided missiles, and a Canadian warship in the Taiwan Strait, the self-governing island, which Beijing considers an extension of its territory.
The Chinese ship overtook the American destroyer and then veered in a circular motion, at a distance of 140 meters, in an unsafe manner, according to the US Indian and Pacific Ocean Command.
During a meeting of some of the world’s top defense leaders in Singapore, General Li Shangfu said that the so-called maritime patrol freedom is a provocation to China.
General Lee said during the “Shangri-La Dialogue” conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, that China has no problems with “innocent passage,” stressing that attempts to use maritime freedom patrols to establish hegemony over navigation traffic should be prevented.
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