TENSIONS between China and the US are escalating after Washington-backed military exercises in Asian waters and territorial disputes.
The disputes are between Beijing and Southeast Asian neighbours.
China is furious at the prospect of further naval exercises between the US and South Korea in the Yellow Sea. Military manoeuvres last month came as the US took sides with Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries in their long disputes with China over control of areas of the resource-rich South China Sea.
“The US should refrain from provoking China through unnecessary military drills and respect its maritime concerns,” former Rear Admiral Yang Yi wrote in yesterday’s China Daily.
“The recent decision by the United States to involve its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the scheduled joint naval drills with the Republic of Korea in the Yellow Sea will further compromise its security strategy in East Asia.”
Academics have joined the military commentary to send a clear message from China.
Shi Yinhong, director of the American Study Centre at Beijing’s prestigious Renmin University, told The Weekend Australian: “The unprecedented military exercises at China’s surrounding sea waters are strategic demonstrations and provocations towards China.
“It forged great pressure on China and has destroyed the warmer relation formed since 2009.”
This week, the George Washington engaged in naval exercises with the country’s former enemy Vietnam. Last month, the US carrier was at the centre of initial exercises with South Korea aimed at agitating North Korea, which sunk the naval ship Cheonan in May, killing 46 people.
The exercises were moved from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan but the next round would be held on the Yellow Sea within months, the White House said.
“It’s the US who took an active series of actions, and it’s up to the US to stop,” Professor Shi said.
“Will the tensions and pressure become long-term? It’s more in the US’s hand. The two sides may shake hands and smile to each other again, but deeply in hearts, they know clearly that they are no longer partners, they will no longer trust each other.”
Professor Shi’s comments follow an attack on the US on Thursday by Major General Luo Yuan in the military newspaper Liberation People’s Daily.
“A country needs respect, and a military also needs respect. If someone doesn’t hurt me, I won’t hurt him; but if someone hurts me, I must hurt him,” General Luo wrote. “For the Chinese people and the Chinese military, those are by no means idle words.”
Professor Shi also noted that anti-US sentiment among Chinese people had reached a “historically high level and the Chinese government must react resolutely, otherwise it will face great questioning from the Chinese public”.
“China is expressing its stand through diplomatic channels and military drills,” he added.
“Though neither the US nor China admitted the exercises at both sides are aimed at each other, all the world thinks so. But no direct military action should be taken, otherwise it will be highly risky to both of them.”
While China has poured investment into its Southeast Asian neighbours, the legacy of its decades of insular policy coupled with aggression have left it with few real allies in the region apart from the oppressive, isolated regimes in North Korea and Burma.
“The limited power of China and its diplomatic heritage determined that China has few strategic partners; it brought China into diplomatic difficulties in the face of such challenges,” Professor Shi said.
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